


Cracked Eggs

by AvengingAngel



Series: Eggshells [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beaches, Brain Surgery, Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Families of Choice, Gen, Human Experimentation, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, Medical Experimentation, Multi, Other, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Sokovia Accords, Vacation, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2018-11-13 09:04:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11181486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengingAngel/pseuds/AvengingAngel
Summary: Hydra have taken the blow, lost their leaders, their members scattered to the wind, but their experiments still live.How do you put your life back together when it's in ruins?





	1. Chapter One

Howard Stark pressed hard on either side of his skull as he retched miserably into the toilet once again. He couldn’t keep anything down, not even water.

 

He’d managed to find a city, he wasn’t sure which one, only that it was busy which made blending into the crowds that much easier. He’d hacked an ATM into spitting out bills, great handfuls of them, which he used to buy food and clothes and rent a hotel room. He needed time to think things through, figure things out.

 

The city was in Europe, but it might as well have been Mars for him. He should remember the language, he had known all of them, hadn’t he? Or was that another Howard Stark?

 

He remembered some things. He remembered dying, the car, Maria crying for him. Was that him? He also remembered waking up in a lab, machines around him and scientists doing things to him, things that hurt, things that still didn’t make sense. Why had they operated on his neck time and time again? Why scan his brain so many times? Why take spinal fluid?

 

He remembered the life before. His wife, his son, Edwin Jarvis. Peggy. What a woman. And before, before all that. The war. Steve. The Howling Commando’s. Annie. The morning he found her bed empty.

 

She’d been in the lab, he remembered that, remembered looking over and seeing her there on another table. Later, or maybe before, he had watched through plate glass as she screamed.

 

Why did he remember children? It had to be a dream, he couldn’t have held Andrew, Andrew had died when he was a child, an adult Howard couldn’t have carried him through the labs on his hip. Why did he remember it?

 

He didn’t remember things he knew he should. He had scars he couldn’t remember getting, freckles he had never had, no recollection of growing up in this time. He had two sets of adult memories, but only one of being a child. Was he not a child? Did he go through an experiment that made him this?

 

Eventually, the pain eased enough that he could get up off the floor and hang on the sink long enough to rinse his mouth, and then shuffle into the other room.

 

As hotels went, it was a run down but clean, and very non-descript, which was what he needed. He needed to be invisible. Only two rooms, the bathroom was small but workable, and the bedroom was multifunctional. It had a bed and a TV and a tiny little fridge which had a microwave on top. There was a minibar, and an armchair that had seen better days. He had a small balcony which overlooked something like a town square. He had watched a couple of weddings spill out of the church.

 

The TV babbled away at him, he caught a word every now and then, but most of it was meaningless. He managed to get an English newspaper a few times a week and through it he managed to stay on top of what was going on in the world.

 

The headlines were all about a city called Sokovia and how it had suffered a freak accident. Personally, he thought a city ascending in the air before plummeting towards the ground and then exploding at the last minute wasn’t an accident. It had Hydra written all over it, with interference. But no one was asking him.

 

The Avengers had stepped in and saved as many as they could. Thousands still died, but it was better than if the Avengers hadn’t been there.

 

Howard avidly watched the replay of Captain America running around every time the TV played the footage. It was grainy, had come from a poor quality camera, but it was Steve. How could it be Steve? Howard had never found him, so how was he leaping and throwing the shield and saving people?

 

There was so much that didn’t make sense to Howard. How the time had passed between the memories he had and the memories he was making. What they had done to him and why and how. Where he was. Annie. Steve.

 

The more time passed, the more questions mounted up, the more angry he became.

 

It was only a matter of time before something would give, and it was probably his sanity.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Minnie Jackson had worked for the Stark family since she was 16 and, if she had her way, she would never leave.

 

She’d left school at 15 to work for her first family, back when there were no child labour laws. Her employers had hired her to cook, clean, and take care of their little ones.

 

The mister also liked to touch Minnie in the pantry when his wife wasn’t looking.

 

One night, about 6 months after she started working there, the mister had thrown a party for some rich people, hoping to make himself richer. She didn’t know exactly what the mister did, only that it meant the house was suddenly full of white men in fancy suits. Minnie had used her mama’s recipes and everyone had been at the liquor. The mister had found Minnie in the kitchen while his wife was talking with some of the other ladies about linens and other household chores they never did themselves, and pressed her against the tall cupboard where the broom was kept, shoving his hand up her uniform dress.

 

Edwin Jarvis had come in to find more shrimp for Mr Stark and pulled the mister off her, firmly herding him out into the party. He had gotten Minnie a glass of water and offered her a job under him, caring for the eccentric inventor. Mr Stark apparently loved the shrimp so much, he’d told Jarvis to get the recipe or die trying.

 

She had left that night and never looked back.

 

That had been before Howard had married, before little baby Tony had come along, before Ana Jarvis had died and Tony became Iron Man and then a father.

 

She had learned exactly how Mister Howard liked things, and Lord, she’d cleaned up so many pairs of panties she could have opened a lingerie store. She’d seen more titties than she cared to remember, and stocked more liquor than any man should have been able to drink. Mister Howard had worked strange hours, and his brain didn’t work like no other mans did, but he was a good man. He’d taken good care of Minnie, treated her right.

 

When Minnie had got married, Mister Howard had paid for the whole wedding and given her a month off for a honeymoon. He’d made sure her husband was always treated well at work, that no one went against him because of the colour of his skin, and when they’d ever needed doctors or dentists, Howard had paid for the best without question.

 

Minnie had birthed six children of her own, and never had any problems getting them into good schools. Her children had been so smart, and Howard had paid for the best education for them. Same with her grandbabies when they came along.

 

When he’d met and married Maria, Minnie had adjusted things to suit them both, and grown to respect the woman. Lord knew Minnie could never have put up with Howard as a husband. Maria was stronger than she looked, made of fire and iron, and she laid down the law with a firm hand. She understood that a man like Howard was never going to be faithful, he just wasn’t capable of it. But it stayed private, as much out of the papers as he could keep it. There was speculation, there always was about rich men, but nothing solid.

 

Baby Tony had been beautiful, all big eyes and wide smile. Maria hadn’t been particularly maternal. She’d loved him, but caring for him hadn’t come natural to her. Birthin’ blues had hit her real hard. Minnie had stepped in, along with Ana Jarvis, to care for the baby. He’d learnt to walk between the two of them, giggled as they tickled his feet, smiled as they cooed over award after award he’d won. When Howard had pushed him away, mind full of numbers and profit, Minnie had taught him to make cookies. When Maria was less than adept at soothing his skinned knees, Ana had kissed them better.

 

Saddest day of Minnie’s life at the Stark’s was when Howard sent Tony away to boarding school. She’d come so close to leaving over it, her bags had been packed. Edwin had spent the better part of two days arguing with her, and finally convinced her to stay. Tony would be heartbroken if he came home for the holidays and she wasn’t there.

 

Ana Jarvis had died of cancer a few years after Tony graduated from MIT. It had been fairly quick, as such things went. Three weeks between diagnosis and death. Tony hadn’t spoken a word for two and a half months afterward. Later, when Howard and Maria died, Minnie had mourned and then made it her mission to do things the way Tony liked. He was different than Howard in a few ways, but for the most part, things hadn’t changed too much. A few years passed, and then everyone had agreed that it was time for Edwin to retire.

 

Minnie had taken over as the head of Tony’s staff, above even the famous Pepper Potts. Minnie had run everything in Tony’s personal residences, from when his laundry was collected to when his dinner was taken to his workshop.

 

His stay in Afghanistan was as close to hell as she could imagine, and his return left her collapsed on the floor in relief. Then again, watching him be Iron Man sometimes convinced her she was going to end up in an early grave.

 

Steve and Loki she approved of, and she’d grown quite fond of having a whole team of superheroes to watch over, so long as they remembered her rules. Weapons were to be put away properly, as was uniform and/or armour. There would be no knife stab marks in her tables, thank you very much Mr Barnes, and laundry would make it to the basket or the chute or not get done.

 

When Steve had moved in, she had adjusted the way of things to suit his needs too, and then later adjusted again to fit all of the people under her charge. Each new person meant a new adjustment, but she liked it. Kept things interesting. Steve liked to cook, so she had done less and less of it as time went by. She still baked, still made little snacks for the fridge, because what she made was better than any of that store bought stuff, but the main meals were not usually cooked by her.

 

Except for now. When Tony had announced to his staff that the Avengers family needed a vacation, Minnie had been the first to volunteer to care for the details. She had coordinated with Happy on the location and the security measures, and arranged for a selection of her own staff to come along to see to the needs of the family. It was a nice change to have control over the menu, to cook for them, to see them enjoy her food, to watch the little ones giggle and play.

 

The little ones were the new light of her life. She didn’t get to see her grandbabies nearly as much as she would like, but now she had four little people to fuss over.

 

“Good morning, Miss Sabrina,” Minnie cooed as the little girl tumbled into the kitchen. “And how are you this good morning?”

 

“Me good,” Sabrina said, hugging her legs. “Minnie good?”

 

“Oh, I am excellent. We gon’ be eatin’ out on the patio this mornin’.”

 

“Okay. Me take?”

 

“Here you go. Careful now. I’ll be there in a minute.”

 

She handed Sabrina the basket of breakfast rolls and watched as she slowly carried them out to the patio table.

 

Kiddo appeared a moment later, hugging her knees, and she happily handed him the napkins.

 

It wasn’t quite the life she’d pictured, and it wasn’t the life of any other person she knew, but it was hers and she wouldn’t change it.

 

***

 

The house they were staying in was large, white stone and render with thick dark oak giving a traditional look to the Spanish manor. There was a large kitchen with glass doors that opened onto a grilling patio. That patio led to the pool and garden, which had a view of the ocean and a path down to the beach.

 

There was a town about a half hour by car inland, but no one seemed enthusiastic about going there. The house was secluded and quiet, which is what they all wanted.

 

Two floors held three multi-room suites and a further five ensuite bedrooms. Tony, Steve, Loki and Sarah were in the first suite, Annie and Bruce had the second with Gabby, and Clint, Phil and the kids had the third. The bedrooms were divided up between the remaining family, and Sam ended up with a room all of his own.

 

JARVIS had claimed a small storage closet by the kitchen, even though there was a bedroom he could have. He decided he didn’t need a bedroom, simply an outlet to charge the body.

 

Aside from the brief foray to Sokovia, the family had lounged about undisturbed for a week. JARVIS was connected to everything, could tell them if they were needed or if there was some pressing matter that couldn’t wait. But mostly they spent their days lounging about, playing with the kids, talking, eating, and generally relaxing by the pool.

 

That morning they ate on the patio and then settled in little groups to while away the day.

 

Steve, Tony and Loki settled on the grass, Sarah held in the middle of their little triangle, babbling away at her parents as she played with the toys they held out to her. Her favourite was the shape sorter that said the names of the colours and shapes in Spanish.

 

Annie and Bruce settled on one of the sun loungers. This was not your average lounger. This was like a double bed with a canopy, big enough for them to both lounge with room for the Hulk to join them.

 

Thor took Gabby over to explore the flowers, the tiny girl carefully batting at them, trying to figure out what the colourful things were and if she could possibly eat them.

 

Darcy and Skye each laid out blankets and stretched out in bikini’s, sunning themselves with music blasting through headphones into their ears.

 

Jane was knee deep in work, something Thor had complained about until he realised how happy it made her to analyse readings and create theories. She spread it out on one of the loungers and threw ideas around with JARVIS, who was happy to help. The AI found the environment change strange and was taking the time to adjust.

 

“What’s it?” Sabrina begged, tugging Bucky along as she tracked the thing in the grass. “Daddy! It’s a…a…a thing!”

 

“It’s a lizard, baby girl,” he said, squatting down and letting the little guy crawl onto his hand. “Like Pascale in Tangled? Except I don’t think he changes colour. I think he might be a gecko or something.”

 

“Hi, lizard,” she said, carefully petting the top of his head with a fingertip. “Hi.”

 

“Here.”

 

He held up the little guy and Sabrina cupped her hands, accepting him as he wiggled across. He settled there and she grinned at him.

 

“Daddy! Look!”

 

“I see. Want to go show Daddy Clint and Daddy Phil?”

 

She nodded and walked off, measuring each step so he didn’t get jostled. Phil and Clint accepted her showing them.

 

Kiddo peered at the little thing in his sisters hands and carefully poked at it, cooing in delight when its tail moved.

 

Sabrina then made a beeline for Bruce. It had long been established in her mind that Bruce was the font of all knowledge. It didn’t matter what she asked, he always had an answer for her. He quickly looked it up on his tablet. The lizard was an ocellated lizard, also known as a jewelled lacerta, and was a protected species. Sabrina happily peered at him for a few moments more, then carefully carried him off to the plants and let him go.

 

Eventually Kiddo set out exploring himself, the two kids dragging Bucky, Phil and Clint around to show them things.

 

Annie looked over at Thor handing Gabby a rusk to gnaw on and smiled.

 

“I think I’m going to end up wrestling him for her one of these days,” she said indulgently and Bruce snorted.

 

“Who knew tiny baby girls were his true weakness.”

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Clint loved his fearless daughter, loved the way she was so strong and brave. But he also loved the moments she wasn’t so fearless, when she was just a little girl looking to daddy for reassurance.

 

He stepped off the last stone step and turned to face her. He and Phil had discussed it and decided to introduce the beach to Sabrina first and then Kiddo, so they could each decide what they thought of it without being influenced by the other.

 

It looked like a good call.

 

Sabrina stood on the last step and looked down at the sand, then over to the cliffs, back to the sand, and then out to the water.

 

“Hey,” he crooned, squatting down before her. “It’s okay, it’s not going to hurt you.”

 

“Safe?”

 

“Very safe, I promise. Just you and me here. You remember when Olaf was singing about summer?”

 

She nodded and wriggled her toes against the stone, creeping closer to the edge.

 

“And he sat on a beach under an umbrella, sipping a drink. It’s just like that.”

 

“Make a castle?” she asked, her little hands reaching for him and gripping his shoulders.

 

“Exactly! We can make sandcastles and find shells and go swimming.”

 

“Swimming?” She looked around and glared at the waves. “No. It’s…all…”

 

“That’s the ocean, baby. It moves, but that’s okay. It’s supposed to do that.” She didn’t look convinced. “How about this? Me and you will go and look, see what it’s like. And if you don’t like it, we can go to the pool. How’s that?”

 

He watched her debate with herself for a moment before she nodded and let him remove her hands from his shoulders. She held his hands as she timidly stepped down onto the warm sand, her little toes wiggling.

 

“Feels…scratchy,” she said. “Moves.”

 

“It’s sand, like when you played with Bobbi.” He crouched down and picked up a handful.

 

She held out her hand so he could pour it into her palm and she let it trickle through her fingers before crouching down to scoop up more handfuls of it.

 

“Different than Bobbi’s sand,” she said. “Don’t stick.”

 

“No, but the sand closer to the water will stick. This sand is dry.”

 

Clint was patient with her, letting her take as much time as she needed. He remembered being a kid from nothing, how strange the world had seemed the first time he’d experienced it. Pushing her would just make things harder for her.

 

She explored a few pebbles, found some shells, and was fascinated by seaweed. Instead of building with her bucket, she used it to collect things. She found a whole load of sea glass in a rainbow of colours. She had no clue what to do with them but she wanted them all the same.

 

“Daddy, what’s it?”

 

“That is a crab, baby. He lives in the ocean.”

 

“Is a shell. A shell with legs.”

 

“That’s his house,” he explained. “He’s a hermit crab, which means he lives in a shell. When he gets too big for this one, he’ll leave it behind and find a new one that fits him.”

 

“Where going?”

 

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s going home.”

 

“Oh. I take him.”

 

“No, baby. Best to leave him to it. He’ll find his way. See, wild animals, they should be left alone. It’s okay to look at them, but we really shouldn’t mess with them. He might not be going home, he might be going somewhere else.”

 

“Oh. Okay.”

 

She was happy enough to follow the crab as he meandered along, and then became fascinated by a tide pool they found, especially the urchins and fish she could gently touch. Clint had a feeling Bruce would need to make a trip with Sabrina to the beach to answer her questions.

 

Eventually they made their way down to the water and she danced back and forth, afraid to touch it. Clint smiled to himself and carefully waded into the surf, demonstrating that it wouldn’t hurt her.

 

“Cold!” she shrieked when she finally let it surge over her toes. “Bath not cold.”

 

“No, but the ocean has no hot tap, baby,” he reasoned. “Come on, it’s not going to hurt you. It’s just water. See?” He kicked up droplets, making her reach out to catch them and stick them in her mouth.

 

“Tastes like the shaker,” she said and he laughed, remembering the dinner when she’d stuck the salt shaker in her mouth. It had gone better than when she’d tasted the pepper shaker.

 

He took her hands and swung her through the air, swishing her feet through the foam and depositing her back where she started.

 

“Daddy, look. Daddy Bucky.”

 

“Ah. I wonder what he wants.”

 

“Spin again!”

 

He spun her around and around, skimming her toes through the water, and then swinging her up into his arms so he could dangle her upside down, letting her fingers trail through the water, completely sure he’d hold her.

 

“Wish I was small enough to do that,” Bucky said as he joined them, wading into the surf.

 

“Daddy too big!”

 

“Yup, sadly, I am too big.”

 

She went across the space and perched herself on Bucky’s hip. She was good about his growing arm, remembering to always go to the right. He was up to a whole half a bicep.

 

“Come to play?” she questioned.

 

“If I can talk to Daddy Clint while we play,” he bargained.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good. What are we doing?”

 

“How about we build a castle?” Clint suggested, and Sabrina was happy to be carried to the sand and presented with Clint’s bucket.

 

Bucky grinned at her collection of random things in her own bucket.

 

“What’s up?” Clint asked as he showed Sabrina what to do.

 

“You’ve known Natalia a long time,” Bucky began.

 

“Little bit.”

 

“And you know what kind of woman she is.”

 

“Not the way you do,” he said with a grin.

 

“Don’t be a…”

 

“Nice save. What is it you wanna know about the Widow?”

 

“No, not the Widow, Natalia. The Widow I know, I trained the Widow.”

 

“Okay. Nat. What about her?”

 

“I want to do something, something special. Back in that place, if she hadn’t taken me on and snapped me out of it…”

 

“Auntie Nat made Daddy Bucky Daddy Bucky again,” Sabrina piped in.

 

“Exactly. And I want to do something to say thank you,” Bucky agreed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “And I’m hoping Daddy Clint can help me with that.”

 

“How special we talking? We talking experience special or expensive special?”

 

“What do you get the woman who saved your ass?”

 

“Ballet,” Clint said. “She loves it. Despite what they did to her when she was a kid, she still loves the ballet. Take her to it. Or…she told me once about a box she saw on a job. It was a jewellery box, and it had a ballerina in it. She’s always wanted one. Me and Phil were going to get her one but she caught us buying it. Woman’s sneaky.”

 

“A jewellery box. I can do that. Now, baby girl, you have to keep this between us,” he said seriously. “I want to surprise her. If you tell, it won’t be a surprise.”

 

“I not tell,” she promised. “Make Natasha happy, so I not tell.”

 

“That’s my baby doll.”

 

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Loki had never had to cook before. He had grown up a prince, and thus had servants to do those sorts of things.

 

But he was a mortal now, living with mortals, mated to them. He should be able to cook. After all, it couldn’t be that hard. It was simply a matter of following directions.

 

If he could construct spells that could render entire armies useless then he could make one simple batch of cakes.

 

Tony found him sitting in the middle of the destroyed kitchen, surrounded by broken eggs, flour on every surface, and burnt or raw cake absolutely everywhere.

 

“I thought I was the only one who did crazy things in the middle of the night,” he said, squatting down. “What happened?”

 

“I don’t know,” he sniffed. “I followed the directions. But then the flour bag split and it went everywhere, and I dropped the eggs, and it didn’t bake right.”

 

He poked at a completely black pan. Once upon a time, it had probably been a shining stainless steel.

 

“What was it supposed to be?”

 

“The cakes that Minnie makes for breakfast.”

 

“Muffins. I see. Well, we’ll clean this up and no one will ever know.”

 

“But…but…Tony, I followed the directions! I don’t understand what went wrong.”

 

“I might be the wrong person to ask,” Tony admitted. “Maybe Annie will know. And I’m sure Minnie would be happy to teach you to make them. Baby, they’re just muffins. It’s not something to break your heart over.”

 

“Sir.”

 

Tony looked up at his AI. “Not really a good time, buddy.”

 

“I am sorry to interrupt, I am aware that this is a personal matter, but I have an urgent call for you, and I do not believe it can wait.”

 

Tony sighed and motioned JARVIS in, transferring Loki to his hands and taking to phone he held.

 

“Tony Stark.”

 

“Mr. Stark, I am so sorry to call so late. Your assistant said it was very late there,” said a female voice.

 

“So late it’s practically early,” he said as JARVIS and Loki began to clean up. “Sorry, who are you?”

 

“My name is Sharon Carter, and I’m trying to get a hold of Phil but his phone is off. Maybe Steve or Clint is available?”

 

“No, they’re asleep. What’s so important that it can’t wait?”

 

“Mr. Stark, I’m sorry to inform you that Peggy Carter has died.”

 

Tony felt the bottom fall out of his world. Aunt Peggy was gone.

 

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Tony moved away from the Steve, Clint and Annie to where Phil was staring at a grave a little way from the path.

 

“Have you noticed that Steve hasn’t spoken to me since Sharon called?” Phil asked.

 

“He doesn’t know what to say to you. He loved her, was going to marry her, and now her son is raising his child.”

 

“I can’t believe he didn’t know she was my mom. I was sure someone had told him.”

 

Tony smiled to himself. Steve had not taken it well, finding out that Phil was Peggy Carter’s son.

 

After the war, Peggy had continued to work for the SSR, where she met her first husband, Daniel Sousa, a fellow SSR agent. They went on to have Margaret and Julie. Daniel died when the girls were young and Peggy had been shocked to meet James Coulson, a man she had married. She had been even more shocked to realise she was pregnant for a third time.

 

Phil had been her little surprise.

 

It wasn’t until months after Phil had moved in did the two men remember the afternoons they had spent playing in the backyard as children while Peggy talked with Howard. When Peggy had retired from SHIELD, the afternoons had become less and less frequent, and then Tony had been sent to boarding school and they had stopped completely.

 

“You seem to be holding up well. Better than your sisters.”

 

“I said goodbye to my mom a long time ago,” Phil said. “When I died, she was told and she mourned me. Then her memory got really bad and it was just kinder not to make her deal with it.”

 

Steve approached them.

 

“Hey, it’s about time.”

 

They made their way in and settled in the family row with Phil’s sisters and other family members, then the music started.

 

Steve did his duty as a pallbearer, his jaw gritted as he helped Peggy to her final rest, and then settled with the rest of them. The minister began with a prayer and then a brief summary of Peggy’s life, if such a life summary could be called brief, before he invited people up to speak. First went Margaret, talking about what a wonderful grandmother Peggy was to her children, then Julie who talked about how she had always seen her mom as the most amazing woman.

 

Phil talked of the childhood he’d had, where his mother had always made time for him, no matter what else was going on. He spoke of how much she had loved Clint, and how much of a difference she made to the lives of all those she touched.

 

Sharon Carter, who made Steve’s jaw drop, talked of Peggy’s unwavering strength.

 

“Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD. But I just knew her as Aunt Peggy. She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But, it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related. I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage at a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said, compromise when you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move. It is your duty, to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, ‘No... ... you move’.”

 

It brought a tear to Tony’s eye to hear his aunt talked about that way. He himself got up and talked about how she had been the strongest woman he’d ever known. She had been there through his childhood, sweeping in periodically to berate his father and tell Tony just how amazing he was.

 

Annie was the last one to be called up, and she only did it because Phil and his sisters had asked her personally to do so.

 

Annie recounted the first time she had met Peggy Carter. She had been young and trying to navigate puberty without a woman to guide her. Peggy had shown her how to be a woman, including the finer art of red lipstick. Annie would always remember Peggy telling her that she knew her worth, what other people thought of her didn’t matter to her.

 

The funeral went as such things usually go. Songs chosen by the family, prayers, recollections of Peggy, and then the curtains closed. Phil and his sisters had all agreed on a cremation and then the ashes would go to Margaret, as the eldest, until it could be decided what to do with them.

 

People lingered outside the chapel as cars were arranged. Some people we going to the wake, some were not, others wanted time alone before they went. People stood around in small groups or pairs, talking.

 

Annie wandered away from her family to look at some of the flowers people had brought. The cards were nice, nice words. Peggy had obviously meant a lot to a lot of people.

 

“Miss Stark, I wonder if I might have a moment of your time?”

 

Annie turned to find a military man with a moustache standing with a man in a suit.

 

“Does it have to be now? This is a funeral,” she reminded.

 

“I understand that, the timing is not ideal, but our timeline is limited. Miss Stark, I’m Brigadier General Glenn Talbot, I’m with the United States Air Force, and I need to talk to you about a meeting of the United Nations happening tomorrow in Vienna.”

 

“I see why it can’t wait. I don’t see why it has anything to do with me. I’m a private citizen, why would I have anything to do with the UN?”

 

He grimaced. “Actually, that’s not strictly true. You are an enhanced individual, and you represent, for us, the Avengers as a whole.”

 

“Of course I do,” she snapped. “Don’t suppose it occurred to anyone to ask me if I wanted to be a representative? Or, you know, ask any of us?”

 

“I do understand that you find this unorthodox.”

 

“No, I find this intrusive. And pointless, so if you would get to the point, Mr Talbot.”

 

“Very well. The United Nations is meeting tomorrow to discuss an initiative called the Sokovia Accords. After the events in Europe a few weeks ago, the leaders want an insurance policy. I’m here to ask you to talk to your people and get them to sign the Accords.”

 

“That simple, huh? What’s in the Accords?”

 

“That’s classified,” said the man in the suit.

 

“I’m not advising anyone of anything unless I know what it is.”

 

“The Sokovia Accords is simply an accounting of those that are enhanced in some way, so we can keep track of potential threats. If something like Sokovia happens again, we’ll know who to look for, and who to call for help,” Talbot assured.

 

Annie stared at him an horror. “You…you want…it’s a registry? You want to register us!?”

 

“No, it’s not-”

 

“Yes, we do.”

 

“I’m sorry, who the hell are you?” she spat, glaring at the man in the suit.

 

“Thaddeus Ross, Secretary of State.”

 

She advanced on him and Talbot stepped in her way.

 

“You get the hell away from me,” she snarled. “After what you did to Bruce, how could you possibly think I would give you the time of day?”

 

“Because the Avengers need reigning in,” he argued. “For years, they have acted completely outside the law, answerable to no one, and that is an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate.”

 

“Hey! Get your hands off her!”

 

Steve stormed up and muscled between Annie and Talbot, Tony and Phil on his heels. Clint was, inexplicably, suddenly standing right behind Ross, menacing at him.

 

“Captain Rogers, I assure you, I was simply trying to diffuse the situation,” Talbot promised. “Secretary Ross was just leaving.”

 

“Ross?” Clint repeated. “As in the one who made Hulk?”

 

“The same,” she said.

 

“Clint, get him away from here,” Phil ordered. “General…?”

 

“Talbot, Brigadier General Glenn Talbot, sir, I am so sorry about your loss. And I am so sorry that I have to do this now, but my timeline is short.”

 

He explained to them what the Sokovia Accords were and what they wanted Annie to do.

 

“Let me get this straight,” Steve said, his voice dangerously calm. “You want Annie to go to Vienna and give our opinions on what you plan to do with us. Then other people will make a decision about us and our lives, regardless of our wants and needs. And then they’ll decide who gets our help in the future, and who we can’t help. That about sum it up?”

 

“It’s not quite…well. I suppose, yes, that’s the crux of it,” Talbot said eventually.

 

“Enough,” Annie snapped as Steve and Tony both opened their mouths to argue. “I’ll do it, I’ll go to the meeting or summit or whatever the hell it is. Just…can we not do this now? Today is to say goodbye to Peggy. I’d like to focus on an amazing woman and her final send off, not on tomorrow.”

 

They all looked shame faced and muttered agreements, before Talbot moved off and Phil went to join Clint by the cars. Tony went off to talk to Happy, leaving Annie and Steve alone. They wandered along the pathways, looking at the monuments, the statues of angels and doves, the carvings of names.

 

“You okay?” Steve asked eventually.

 

“All things considered, yes, I’m okay. I guess.”

 

“Ann…”

 

“I wanted to visit her, you know. I asked Phil and he said it might not be good for her,” she said, hugging herself. “He said it might confuse her. That she had problems, staying in this time.”

 

“She used to forget that time had passed,” he said gently. “Sometimes she’d be fine, talking to me, like we are now. Other times, she was back in the forties.”

 

“I thought it would upset her, if I went. And now I’ll never get to.”

 

“She knew you were back,” he said. “I saw her, when I was in Washington. And she’d seen the papers. She knew we’d found you, and she was so relieved. So thankful. She told me I had to take care of you. That we needed to take care of each other.”

 

“We should probably stick to that then,” she said with a small smile. “After all, it was always a stupid idea to argue with Peggy.”

 

“Yeah, she tended to shoot at you when pissed.”

 

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Annie gritted her teeth as Ross wrapped up his argument for the Accords. What a pompous ass. The man was way too fond of the sound of his own voice.

 

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your time and your consideration of this matter,” Ross said.

 

‘Finally,’ she thought, glancing at Happy as Ross stepped down.

 

“Thank you, Secretary Ross, for your most informative presentation,” said T’Chaka, king of Wakanda, home of vibranium and one of the most isolated nations on the planet. Wakanda had only recently decided to make alliances with others in person. It was rumoured that they have technological advances that were the stuff of Tony’s wet dreams.

 

“Yes, very informative,” said the British representative. “I think now is a good time for a counterpoint. Miss Stark, if you’re ready?”

 

She nodded and smoothed her skirt as she made her way up to the podium. She had, at Tony’s urging, dressed very innocently, to remind them of her youth, and her hair loose, to keep the attentions of the male gaze. Her skirt was knee length, short enough to show a hint of her leg when she moved, but conservative enough to keep her in the good graces of the females listening to her.

 

And they had to listen and believe her.

 

“Thank you for inviting me here today. I’m honoured that you would want to hear what I have to say.” She shuffled her papers. “The Sokovia Accords are well thought out, I won’t deny that. And I also agree that the world is changing and we must change with it. However, I do not believe that registering enhanced people is the answer. I would like you to imagine, if I can, that instead of a watch that tracks enhanced people, it was a star.”

 

Silence filled the room, people looking at each other uncomfortably.

 

“Hitler and the Nazi’s didn’t wake up one day and round up millions of people, shove them in a gas chamber and toss their bodies in mass graves. It wasn’t like that. It was slow. First it was businesses they couldn’t use, and streets they couldn’t walk down. Jobs lost, the economy they said. Don’t go down that street, it’s not safe. Come, live here, it’s safe for you. No one mentioned that these safe places to live were overcrowded ghettos, most houses having two, sometimes three families in a two room apartment. People weren’t rounded up overnight. It happened slowly, carefully, and it started with identification.”

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I ask, no I beg you, please do not force us to register ourselves. It is the first step on a slippery slope that will lead us somewhere we can’t come back from.”

 

“Miss Stark,” Ross said. “While I agree the atrocities of the Nazi’s were despicable, I don’t see how this prevents another incident involving enhanced people.”

 

“May I have an example of an incident caused by enhanced people?”

 

“New York.”

 

“Wasn’t it the World Security Council who wanted to nuke New York, kill everyone, and wasn’t it Iron Man that saved everyone? I have sworn testimonies,” she said, motioning to the pages now being handed out, “from hundreds of New Yorkers, swearing under oath that they were saved by the Avengers. That if the Avengers hadn’t been there, they would have died. And it’s been proven that the actions of higher ups caused the invasion of the city. They were enticed here by a power our governments had no business messing with.”

 

“Miss Stark, what about the events in Washington?” asked the Chinese minister.

 

“Again, it was the work of government officials to put into play helicarriers armed with weapons of mass destruction. If Steve hadn’t risked his life and become a so-called terrorist, millions would have died, worldwide.”

 

“Harlem?” Ross spat. “You going to blame that one on us too? We all know who was responsible for that!”

 

“Yes, we do,” she hissed. “You were.”

 

Stunned silence met her words, before whispers broke out.

 

“That is a lie.”

 

“No, it’s not. You were so desperate to have more super soldiers that you put so much pressure on Bruce that he tested a serum on himself, trying to get you results. Hulk was created because of you. And then, instead of helping Bruce, a good man, an innocent man, you turned him into a fugitive. And while you were hunting him down like an animal-”

 

“I didn’t-”

 

“HUNTING him down! You were pumping this dangerous serum into Emil Blonsky, turning him into a creature of pure rage and destruction. Tell me, Secretary, what happened to Blonsky?”

 

“He was retired,” he said.

 

“Retired? So…he’s living it up on a beach somewhere?”

 

“Not exactly.”

 

“In truth, Emil Blonsky, a decorated soldier who served his country loyally and honourably, is now in a cell from which he will never emerge, isn’t that true?”

 

Somehow, the hearing over the Sokovia Accords had turned into a roasting of the US Secretary of State.

 

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“They’re voting,” Tony said, poking his head out to the patio where Bruce was sitting with Gabby.

 

The scientist had declined to watch the live footage of the UN meeting, not wanting to see Ross, even on a screen. So he had taken the kids to the garden with JARVIS, who could have it beamed directly into his head.

 

Sabrina and Kiddo we happily splashing in the pool with JARVIS, Helix watching from the side lines, tail wagging. Sarah had fallen asleep on a blanket in the shade, thumb in her mouth, blonde curls ruffled every now and then by the breeze.

 

Bruce had Gabby in his arms, murmuring stories to her as she sleepily blinked at the flowers, suckling at a bottle of juice and gripping at his fingers. He loved moments like this, when she was cuddly and sleepy, leaning against his chest as if there was nowhere else better in the world.

 

Sarah was an explorer, wanting to know everything about everything. Sabrina was the fearless one, the protector, determined to keep everyone she loved safe. Kiddo was the happy one, always smiling, enjoying life for everything it had to offer. And Gabby was the sweet one, the one who loved to cuddle and tickle and kiss, the one who would sit in your arms for hours and hours and not get tired.

 

It amazed them all that the kids were so different from each other.

 

Bruce settled her in his arms as he stood, Tony gathering Sarah into his, before the two of them joined the others inside.

 

“Wish she’d let one of us go with her,” Steve complained.

 

“Looks better if we didn’t,” Bucky reminded. “We go with, it looks like we’re muscling in on the UN. She goes alone, people trust her.”

 

“Yeah,” Tony said. “She’s only got one body guard. It suggests she’s trusting of them, which makes them want to trust her. Here we go.”

 

On the screen, the votes were finally tallied and the result given to the Wakandan King.

 

“In the matter of the Sokovia Accords drawn up and proposed here today by Secretary of State Ross, it is the almost completely unanimous decision that this is not a path we want to take. While it is the decision of this committee that the growing number of enhanced individuals needs to be monitored, we do not agree with the registration of human beings. It is the decision of this summit, that further options will be brainstormed, and we will meet again to discuss. I thank you all for your presence and your cooperation.”

 

The Avengers all breathed a sigh of relief, and even Bruce smirked at the sour look on Ross’ face.

 

“I do not understand why he thought this was a suitable option,” Loki said, sipping at his lemonade. “I read of your World War, what this Hitler fellow did. Why would he think similar actions would be acceptable?”

 

“Because to him, we’re just a different species of animal,” Bruce snarled. “He wants to round us up and exterminate us. Oh, wait, he only wants that after he’s put us to good use as cannon fodder for his damn wars.”

 

Gabby whined and wriggled as his tone and he hugged her close, offering soothing sounds.

 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Bad man got Pai all worked up, but it’s okay. Nothing going to get you again, I promise.”

 

She slowly settled, rubbing her nose along his chest. They assumed it was something to do with the alien status of one parent, because Sarah did the same thing. Both babies liked to scent their loved ones, as if marking out who was safe by how they smelled.

 

“Bruce is right,” Tony said, handing Sarah off to Steve so he had both hands free to toy with Loki’s hair. “Ross has a deep seated hatred of people who are different than he is.”

 

“Which is why it’s good that these Accords are off the table,” Natasha said.

 

“Wait, I thought you were the one who thought they might be a good thing,” Darcy pointed out.

 

“And I still do,” she defended. “Maybe we should be put in check.”

 

“Not like this,” Steve said determinedly, stroking Sarah’s back as she snuffled in her sleep. “We should make the choice. We’re not idiots, we know right from wrong. No. The safest hands are still our own.”

 

“It doesn’t matter now,” Sam said, glancing up from his crossword. “Ain’t happening.”

 

“So we should change the subject,” Phil said.

 

“Thor got a look at the jet skis,” Jane said and they all shared collective looks of horror.

 

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Annie ducked behind a pillar and sighed, Happy holding out a bottle of water for her.

 

“We can leave soon,” he promised. “Tony told me to do the usual rounds, so we just need to stay a little longer.”

 

She nodded and downed half the bottle before straightening up and striding out into the room.

 

Annie had made good progress with several leaders, getting them in her good graces and her in theirs, which would make diplomatic relations between those countries and the Avengers easier in the future. She’d also had a lot of interest in the coming Stark Intelli-toys line. When she had shown them footage of China, they had loved it and wanted to know when it would be available.

 

All in all, it was very successful.

 

“Miss Stark,” T’Chaka said.

 

“Your Majesty. Thank you for supporting me today.”

 

“Not at all.” He leaned in close and she tilted her head, accepting whatever secret he was about to give. “My bloodline is enhanced,” he whispered, nodding at his son, T’Challa, who was lingering close by.

 

“Really? How wonderful! The children are all enhanced, and Sabrina, the oldest, she’s starting to realise how different she is from her playmates. It’s nice to know there are others, that I can tell her there are others like her.”

 

“Yes, such things are important for special children.” He smiled. “I did meet your brother once, you know.”

 

“You did? Tony never mentioned it.”

 

“Oh, no, not Tony. Howard.”

 

“You…you met Howard?”

 

“Yes. He offered me a lot of money for our vibranium.”

 

She smiled. “I see. No wonder he wouldn’t tell me where it came from. He used it to make Steve’s shield.”

 

“Yes, I did recognise it. I do like that it is a defensive instrument.”

 

They chuckled and then Annie turned briefly as she was called by Talbot. “Please, forgive me,” she apologised. “I would like to keep talking to you, if I can. I can call you, send emails perhaps?”

 

“That would be most beneficial. It was an honour to meet you.”

 

He shook her hand and smiled before moving off to talk to someone else, and Happy took Annie’s elbow, leaning in to talk.

 

“Now that was nicely done,” he praised.

 

“It was a lot easier when Howard just hid me away,” she complained. “I never had to be nice or diplomatic then.”

 

“The world changed. Everyone has a camera phone now.”

 

“Hate those things.”

 

She had just smiled at Talbot when the building exploded.

 

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	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long, but real life has been kicking my arse.

“Sir, we can’t find them,” Maria Hill said.

 

“With how many there are of them, how is it possible we can’t find a single one?” Nick Fury pressed, looking at the file open on his desk.

 

“The last major reports showed them in a limousine headed to the airport. They boarded Tony Stark’s private plane with several security and staff, and the flight plan they filed is false. JARVIS is being very uncooperative, refusing to even pass on messages. We’re lucky they even showed up for the events in Sokovia. Sir, they even took the dog. The Avengers have disappeared.”

 

Nick sighed and sat back in his chair.

 

“How long since we last had a location?”

 

“Approximately twenty nine hours. Tony Stark, Annabelle Stark, Captain America, Phil Coulson and Clint Barton were last seen at the funeral of Director Carter. Currently, location is only known for Annabelle Stark, who arrived at the UN approximately,” she glanced at her watch, “37 minutes ago, chaperoned by Happy Hogan.”

 

Another sigh and he turned to stare out of the window. “Why did I think bringing those people together was a good idea?” he asked. “The Avengers Initiative was supposed to work for SHIELD, not independently.”

 

“Permission to speak candidly, sir?”

 

“Go ahead, it couldn’t be any worse than the crap I’m dealing with.”

 

“When you brought Coulson back they lost faith in the organisation, sir,” she said. “You shouldn’t have done it. He was gone, Nick. Using those methods to bring him back was unconscionable. The pain you put him through, the lies we all told. How could they possibly trust us after that?”

 

“I was wrong, it was worse,” he said. “Maria, he’s my best guy. My friend. He deserved better than having some alien crap shoved through his chest.”

 

“He deserved the dignity you took from him. He deserved more than to be tortured with some convoluted way to train your successor.”

 

“That is not what I did, Agent Hill!”

 

“Isn’t it?” she pressed. “People die, that’s the world we live in. We lose friends and family, people close to us, the ones that mean the most. You grieve, you mourn them and then you move on. You don’t use them as a science project to raise the dead.”

 

“Are you done?”

 

“I don’t know, sir. Am I?”

 

“Yes, you’re done. Go, find the Avengers. I don’t care what you have to do, find them.”

 

She nodded and left his office. Nick knew she was right, that he’d made a mistake. He’d lost his friend anyway. And he’d known that it would come to that. That if Phil ever learned of what he’d done to him he would never forgive him.

 

But he couldn’t find it in himself to regret what he’d done. Phil was alive. If he never spoke to Nick again, if he never forgave him, he could cope with that.

 

Phil lived, and that was enough.

 

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Nick sat and brooded until Hill burst in, ignoring his protests.

 

The UN had been bombed.

 

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As the bomb went off onscreen, the Avengers descended into panic. There was a mad scramble to keep the kids away from the footage, Natasha grabbing at the remote to rewind so she could get a better look.

 

Bruce handed Gabby off to Thor, who took her without a word as Bruce’s eyes turned green.

 

“Stop!” Phil yelled. “Everyone stop.”

 

They all froze where they stood, staring at him.

 

“We can’t fly in to save her. If we go in, the chaos will multiply.”

 

Steve sank down onto the sofa and stared at the screen as Phil guided Bruce to sit with him. The scientist grabbed his hand and gripped tight, trying to stay in the moment.

 

“Holy shit,” Tony breathed, clutching his phone tight. Happy would call him when he could. The screen was full of screaming people, running and scrambling for cover, some bleeding, most covered in dust, crying, stunned silent, dead bodies littering the floor.

 

And all they could do was wait.

 

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Howard watched, horrified, as the footage of the bombing played on a loop.

 

He’d decided to go out, to try and get another English newspaper. He didn’t mean to watch any TV, but seeing Annie on the screen had stopped him dead.

 

She looked so very young, so innocent. But she wasn’t, she never really had been. He remembered her catching two GI’s with their hands down each others pants. They had been horrified, she had merely giggled and told them to clean up after themselves. Everyone had thought her strange. Peggy, while always polite and friendly, had always found Annie a little off-putting. She never made Annie feel like the outsider, she answered questions about lipstick and brassieres from the girl with no mother, but Howard had often seen her staring after Annie with a confused look in her eye, muttering about how odd she was.

 

A child who could calculate rings around you concerned a lot of people. They didn’t like a little girl telling them that the things they said were wrong. Scientists didn’t like Annie correcting their calculations, generals and strategists didn’t like her pointing out the flaws in their plans.

 

Steve had always been happy to have her around. He never pretended she wasn’t the smartest person on base, Howard included. Same with Barnes. He had never treated her any different than any other woman on base, and Howard was never sure if he should be thankful for that or not. The Howlers had treated her like one of their own, which, in a way, she was. They were all misfits, all a way apart from others.

 

And now, here she was, proving to all these big important people how wrong they were. He felt a swell of pride as she took that arrogant general down, and a swell of triumph as the UN voted in Annie’s favour.

 

The cameras didn’t linger on anyone half as much as they did the ‘beautiful Miss Stark’ and Howard was grateful for it. It gave him more time to look at her. She was a little thinner than he liked, but she didn’t seem ill, so he supposed maybe it was a small thing really. Her bodyguard definitely knew his stuff. He was never more than two or three steps from her, absolutely never out of arms reach.

 

And then the image disintegrated into chaos and Howard lost his mind.

 

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Happy pushed Annie behind him as the Asian woman approached.

 

His enhanced charge was dizzy as hell from the sheer noise of things exploding. Being a super soldier was all well and good once you had a handle on enhanced senses. Annie had yet to master blocking things out, and the wall of sound had hit her like a battering ram.

 

He would be carrying her if she could stand being touched without it being excruciating.

 

“Mr Hogan, I assure you I am no threat,” she assured, standing at ease.

 

“Then get out of the way,” he ordered, pulling his gun.

 

“My name is Agent Melinda May with S.H.I.E.L.D. and I’m here to escort you and Miss Stark to a safe location.”

 

“I’d rather just give her to the bomber.” He motioned with the barrel. “Go back to your spy guys and tell them to stay away. Now move.”

 

She held up her hands and stepped back. Happy kept his gun in hand as he carefully guided Annie out. He hailed a cab and gave him $500 to get them to the airport as quick as possible. The traffic was all heading towards the bombing, not away, so they made good time.

 

Justin had been Tony’s pilot for the last fifteen years, and was used to changes in plans, but even he was shocked by these events. He had actually joked to Tony that it would be nice to pilot for Annie, as surely she had to be an easier passenger.

 

Justin was frantic, trying to get clearance to take off, but nothing was going out. The runways were closed down, the trains stopped, the streets being shut down every moment. Happy took a moment to think and then left Justin in charge of getting them out of there.

 

Happy took Annie and led her to the closest airport hotel, secreting her in a corner behind a large potted plant while he talked to the man behind the desk.

 

“Look, I know this is going to sound really shady, but I need a secure room off the books,” Happy said.

 

“You’re right, it sounds shady,” he said, raising an eyebrow at Happy’s dust covered suit.

 

“Let me try again. I need a secure room, and I will pay you for it, and I will pay you extra to keep this off the books.”

 

“Sorry,” he said breezily. “Can’t help you.”

 

Happy opened his mouth to argue when he was interrupted by a squeak from Annie.

 

The young woman was on the floor, holding her head as her nose bled.

 

“What happened?” he asked, helping her up.

 

“Fell down,” she whispered. “Chair tilted.”

 

“No, the chair is still. Your inner ear is sound blasted.” He slowly eased her up, and deposited her on the chair as he felt someone approach.

 

“Miss Stark?”

 

“I thought you couldn’t help,” Happy said to the man from behind the desk.

 

“Is the room for her?”

 

“Might be.”

 

“Then I can help.”

 

“Please, stop yelling,” Annie begged.

 

He beckoned Happy back to the desk. “If you’d said it was for her I would have helped you immediately.”

 

“She was just in an explosion!” he hissed.

 

“I know, it’s all over the TV,” he replied. “But my son is a mutant and she just argued for freedoms for enhanced people.” He tapped away at the computer. “We’re pretty full, the whole Accords meeting. But I have a cancellation. It’s a single, with possibly the worst view ever. Looks out over the runway.”

 

“I’ll take it.”

 

Happy pulled out his wallet but the man waved him away. “Off the books, no charge. I’ll put it down as closed for maintenance.” He handed over the key card. “Third floor.”

 

It took Happy the work of minutes to get Annie up to the room and behind a locked door. He grabbed the pillows and blankets and laid them in the bathtub before settling her in. He switched off the lights and closed the door, hoping the dark and quiet would settle her senses. He settled on the stripped bed, with a full view of the window, the bathroom and the locked room door, and called Tony.

 

“Happy? Holy shit,” Tony said as the line connected. “Is she okay? Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine, a little dusty and bruised, but fine. Annie…she’s in the bathroom. Her senses are all haywire. I didn’t know what else to do! I put her in the bathroom with no light. Is that right?”

 

“Hold on, hold on. Bruce? Hey, buddy, it’s Happy. He needs help with Annie.”

 

“Happy? It’s Bruce. Was she hurt? What’s happening?”

 

“She wasn’t hurt, I shielded her, but it’s like her senses are on overdrive. Talking sounds like shouting, she’s dizzy, tripping over her own feet, can’t stand being touched. I put her in the dark bathroom, shut the door to keep it quiet.”

 

“When did this happen, when did it start?”

 

“As soon as the explosion hit. The sound hit her and that was it. What do I do?”

 

“Just what you’re doing,” Bruce sighed and Happy could hear him scrubbing at his hair. He’d put the phone on speaker. “Steve? What happens when you’re caught in an explosion?”

 

“Wild senses,” Steve said. “She thrown up yet?”

 

“Not yet,” Happy said. “Mainly vertigo and some nose bleeding.”

 

“Sounds like she’s only just started,” Bucky said. “Falling over, nose bleed, that’s just the start. Next comes vomit and ears bleeding. What? About six hours?”

 

“Sounds about right,” Steve agreed. “She might be a little quicker, her’s is natural.”

 

“Aside from that, she’s okay, right?” Bruce pressed.

 

“Yeah. Physically she’s fine. But she’s upset. She was talking to the king of Wakanda right before the blast and now he’s dead. I don’t think she knows how to deal with that.”

 

“She’ll get there,” Steve assured. “When are you coming home?”

 

“Waiting for Justin to get clearance and then we’re out of here. Hold up, call waiting.”

 

He switched lines and sighed as Justin assured him he was warming up the engines.

 

“Boss, gotta go, plane’s ready. Three hours, see you soon.”

 

When he entered the bathroom, Annie was hunched over the toilet, throwing up, blood pouring from her ears.

 

“Okay, it’s okay,” he soothed. “Let’s just…that’s it.” He swept her hair back and wrung out a facecloth, pressing it against the back of her neck. “Justin has clearance. Time to go.”

 

“Bruce?” she whimpered.

 

“Yeah, going to Bruce. Come on.”

 

He tried to help her stand but her knees wouldn’t cooperate. “Just do it,” she moaned. “I’ll grit my teeth.”

 

He scooped her up, and he couldn’t count how many times he’d done this for Tony. Thankfully, this Stark was sober and not drooling scotch on his suit. Annie did her best to stem the flow of blood with the hand towel she grabbed on the way as Happy did his best to keep her as still as possible.

 

Justin was waiting, and started off the engines as soon as he saw them on the tarmac. Happy hadn’t even settled her in a seat before the stairs retracted. Happy tore through the bathroom and the first aid kit until he turned up some earplugs and an eye mask.

 

He helped her put them on and strapped himself in, hoping she’d be okay through the flight.

 

Just two hours and 47 minutes to go.

 

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Steve couldn’t stop pacing, and he knew he was driving Bruce and Tony crazy, but he just couldn’t stop.

 

The call from Happy had been the best call he’d ever had in his entire life. Hearing someone he cared about was okay produced a feeling of relief in him stronger than anything he could remember. Finding Bucky alive had been relief on a different level. He could see Bucky, touch him.

 

Get shot at by him.

 

But Annie wasn’t in touching distance. How could Happy know if she was truly okay? What if she had internal bleeding? What if she had inhaled too much dust, or some weird gas had been in the bomb?

 

“Stop,” Tony ordered. “Happy said she was fine apart from the senses.”

 

“He could be wrong,” he argued.

 

“Steve,” Bruce said tensely. “Please. Don’t.”

 

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

 

Tony pulled him in and kissed him before hugging him close, stroking his hair. “Just take a breath, baby. She’s tough, she’s a Stark, we only come in tough and indestructible. No other settings. If decades as a lab rat didn’t do her in, one little bomb won’t even dent her.”

 

“Forgive the interruption,” chimed JARVIS from Tony’s watch. “But the jet is inbound. Approximately three minutes to landing.”

 

“Thanks, J.”

 

“I know,” Steve whispered. “I know how tough she is. But she’s your sister, she’s the family mom, she takes care of all of us. She’s family. Losing her…I can’t, Tony. I can’t lose her. I can’t lose any of you.”

 

“Shhh. Easy, take it easy,” the brunet soothed. “We’re here, all of us. I can’t promise the future, but I can promise that none of us would ever leave voluntarily. You’re right, we are a family. And even though my experiences with that word are a little questionable, I do know that this family, our family…it’s worth getting worked up over. Our people are worth worrying over. Just try and keep it quiet, I think Bruce might be heading for a code green.”

 

“I don’t think the beach will ever be the same,” Steve said.

 

As the UN had exploded on the TV, Hulk had burst from the house, jumping down to the beach and destroying any and all boulders he could get his hands on. There were very large gouges in the cliffs.

 

Sabrina was the only one of the kids who understood what had happened, and she hadn’t settled until she knew Annie was safe. She had perched on first Clint’s hip, then Phil’s, then Natasha’s and finally Bucky’s. It wasn’t until Happy called did she untangle her fingers from his hair, and finally drink some water.

 

Kiddo knew something was up, but JARVIS had managed to distract him enough to keep him calm.

 

“Touchdown,” Bruce said, pushing off from where he’d been leaning against the car. He hovered until the stair ramp lowered and then bounded up.

 

“Doctor Banner,” Happy said, hands still on his seatbelt. He quickly unbuckled and headed to the door. “I’ll go fill Tony in.”

 

Bruce approached the sleeping figure and carefully unclipped her belt. Hulk was purring in the back of his head, finally calm (as calm as Hulk ever got) at seeing Annie. Bruce cautiously laid a hand on her hip and she startled.

 

He slid the mask off and she blinked at him, hands going to her ears to tug out the earplugs.

 

“Bruce. Take me home,” she whispered, reaching for him.

 

He gathered her into his arms, settling on the floor with her in his lap, clinging to him.

 

“No more bombs,” she said. “No more. Dead people and dying people and blood. Please? Pease make it stop.” She started to cry and his heart broke. He stroked her hair, rocking her.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he murmured, pressing kisses to her hair and blinking back his own tears.

 

“Bruce?”

 

Steve was hovering in the doorway, looking as if he wasn’t quite sure he was supposed to be there.

 

“Annie, baby, go to Steve. He’s a lot more steady on his feet than I am. Come on, he’ll get you to the car.”

 

Steve jumped to attention, happy to be given a task. He helped Annie up and then caught her as her knees gave out.

 

It gave Bruce a moment to think, to catch his breath.

 

She was okay, physically speaking. They’d take her back to the villa, settle down, get back to the vacation. That part was going to be fine. She’d calm down, heal from the scare she’d had, the people she’d seen hurt and die. She’d process it all. It would be okay. There was just one problem.

 

Someone had bombed the United Nations.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Howard plucked at the keyboard of the stolen laptop, working through firewalls and backdoors, finding a way in.

 

One lousy little statement, that’s it, that’s all they thought the world deserved. She was his sister, no matter what Tony said. And where did he get off claiming Annie was his sister? She wasn’t. She was Howard’s, and he wasn’t about to take a back seat.

 

He had to know, he couldn’t sit and wait and let other people make the decisions.

 

He navigated the encryptions, treading carefully. Tony’s little programme had booted him out twice already. He just needed this one little thing, just one, and he could do it himself.

 

Tony wasn’t smart enough to beat him.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

It had been a tough day, but they had all got through it.

 

Annie and the guys had arrived home as Minnie was serving breakfast, and the day had been spent together as a family. They played in the pool, and lounged in the sun, and let Annie take her time in talking about what had happened. It came in trickles, little bits and pieces of what she remembered.

 

The smell of the plaster dust, the sounds of the dying. The way T’Challa had screamed over his father’s body.

 

These things were told in whispers, secreted between her and another like small sharp stones in a shoe, things to be carried and cause pain.

 

They had all decided on an early night, and it should have been easy to fall asleep. Sheer exhaustion settling in after the adrenaline rush of the night before.

 

But Annie couldn’t sleep.

 

It was Bucky that found her, feet swishing in the pool, Helix snoring on her thigh, head tipped back to look at the stars.

 

“I would imagine growing an elbow is going to suck,” she said and he grinned.

 

“God help Gabby when she tries to sneak out. If you don’t hear her…I’ll eat my arm.”

 

“Fresh meat,” she joked as he sat down with her.

 

“Where’s Bruce?” he asked, pushing his hair out of his face. “Don’t tell me you cut the superglue.”

 

“He’s asleep. Left him my pillow to hold.”

 

“Shouldn’t you be in there with him?”

 

“Needed some space. Just…taking a breath.”

 

He nodded and fell silent, waiting. He found that with women (all women not just the ones that could kill you with your own shoelaces) if you waited quiet and patient, they’d eventually talk to you.

 

“I thought I was done with it,” she mumbled. “Bombs and shit. Didn’t think I’d ever have to be in them again. Remember that one that dropped in London, that pub? Was washing that dust out of that dress for days.”

 

“Was that the green one? With the blue thing on the top?” he asked, knowing fully well that it was. He figured if he could distract her from the bombing, maybe she could get some sleep.

 

“Blue ribbon, and yes.”

 

“Hell of a dress.”

 

“I know. You were always very attentive when I wore that one. Actually, you were always attentive, full stop.”

 

“Well, you were the best dame there. After Carter. But you didn’t scare me half so much as she did.”

 

“Really?” she said with a grin.

 

“That woman was goddamn terrifying, and I ain’t too proud to say it. Plus, you weren’t enhanced back then. Just super smart, so I felt all level with you. I knew I was never gonna be as smart as you, but you never made me feel like some dumb jerk like Howard did. You were okay.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Can I tell you a secret?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Never even told Steve.”

 

“Hell of a secret,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Well, thing is…I always sorta…kinda…wanted to ask you…to marry me.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I was going to ask you to be my wife.”

 

“Uhhh…why me? I’m flattered, don’t get me wrong. But why me when you could have any woman you wanted.”

 

“After the war, when it was over and we were all supposed to go home and be regular folks again. I was going to ask you to marry me. You were pretty and sweet and smart and you’d understand what it’d been like over there. I figured me and you could make each other happy. Might not have been love like other folks had…but we coulda been happy I think.”

 

Her head tilted as she considered it.

 

“Yeah. I think we could have been happy.”

 

“Probably for the best we both got used as playthings though,” Bucky said. “I got to be with Nat. You got to find Bruce. Jeez, I think his brain might actually be a match for yours.”

 

“He challenges my brain.”

 

“Holy…I didn’t think that was possible.”

 

“Believe it.”

 

He leaned into her, nudging her shoulder with his.

 

“I used to like it when you read to us,” he admitted.

 

“Bucky, I never read to you.”

 

“Okay, so it wasn’t TO us, you were just reading out loud, but it was nice. I liked it.”

 

“Yeah? What was your favourite?”

 

“Alice.”

 

She snickered and got a faraway look in her eyes before she cleared her throat.

 

“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

      And the mome raths outgrabe.

 

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

      The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

      The frumious Bandersnatch!”

 

He took his vorpal sword in hand;

      Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree

      And stood awhile in thought.

 

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

      The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

      And burbled as it came!

 

One, two! One, two! And through and through

      The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

      He went galumphing back.

 

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

      Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

      He chortled in his joy.

 

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

      And the mome raths outgrabe.”

 

“I can’t believe you remember that whole thing!” he chuckled. “How did you do that?”

 

“I guess it just stuck. I remember the Walrus and the Carpenter too.”

 

Bucky suddenly had a sinking feeling. “Anne…do you ever forget anything?”

 

“No,” she admitted, stroking Helix’s ears. “Nothing.”

 

“Annie, how much were you aware of in the labs?”

 

“All of it,” she whispered.

 

He leaned in and hugged her close with his one good arm, his stub resting on her shoulder. His own memories of what they’d done to him were fuzzy, either through pain or time or just the massive amounts of drugs they had had him on. When he had walked away from Hydra after dragging Steve from the river, he’d spent over a week in a random motel sweating out what shit they’d pumped into him. Later Bruce told him it had been severe opiate withdrawal. How he had functioned at all with doses as high as were needed for him was a complete mystery.

 

Most of his gaps had been filled in with the files they had liberated from the Siberian facility.

 

He’d known Annie was remembering some things from her time as their prisoner, but to hear she remembered everything? To know she remembered pain and suffering, unending years of torture, of complete disregard for everything she was and had been?

 

It was almost more than he could take.

 

To know that anyone had suffered like that was one thing, he could almost manage to process that. But to remember every moment of it was a whole other deal.

 

“I don’t know how to help,” he admitted. “And I want to. I want to make it better.”

 

“Just…don’t leave us?” she asked. “You’re one of us, Bucky, a part of us. When you wanted to leave because you couldn’t trust what was in your head…don’t leave.”

 

“I swear, I ain’t going anywhere, doll.”

 

He shivered as her fingers found his stump. “Does it hurt?”

 

“Nah. Aches a little, when I’m going through a growth spurt, but it doesn’t hurt.”

 

“Don’t tell Steve? About…what I remember. He’ll just worry, you know he will.”

 

“Yeah, regular Momma Hen, always has been. Just between us, I promise.”

 

They sat like that for a while, Bucky holding her while the stillness of the night settled around them, until he yawned.

 

“You going up?” he asked as he stood and stretched.

 

“In a while. Go to bed, Barnes.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” he smiled, walking backwards and saluting.

 

Annie settled back to her silence, counting the stars, finding patterns between them. It was something she’d done when she was little, before she’d learnt about constellations and galaxies and other worlds. She’d tried to find the patterns and pictures between the tiny points of light.

 

It was one of the simplest pleasures she had, and one of the freedoms she’d missed the most during her captivity. She’d often retreated into her mind when they’d come in with their scalpels and syringes. Pretty pictures in points of light in her mind, something to see other than the red of her own blood or the smoke from their burning.

 

She didn’t know what had taken hold of her to make her tell Bucky she remembered. Something about watching people die around her, seeing the lifeless corpse of the nice Wakandan king, hearing the cries and screams as Happy pinned her beneath him, protecting her.

 

It wasn’t that she had trouble remembering what had been done to her. She remembered. She had trouble with putting things in order, with making them clear, but they were all there.

 

Annie’s problem was that she couldn’t forget.

 

She was startled by her phone ringing, some song Tony had programmed in. Catchy.

 

But who on earth would be phoning her. Everyone who had the number was in the house, asleep.

 

“Peter. Of course,” she said as she thumbed the screen. “Hey, Parker, what’s up? Hello? Hellllllooooo?”

 

Silence met her, aside from faint background noise she could make out.

 

The faint strum of a guitar, the buzz of a TV, the ticking of a clock. The beat of a heart.

 

“Listen, I know there’s someone there. I don’t know who this is but you shouldn’t have this number.”

 

JARVIS appeared in the doorway, and nodded once before heading back into the house to get Tony.

 

“I’m hanging up now.”

 

“Annie,” he whispered.

 

“Howard?”

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Sabrina and Kiddo were playing in the front drive when the cat attacked.

 

Less than twenty four hours since the bombing and life was once again calm. Tony had JARVIS monitoring news sources, but until there was something to know, there was nothing to do but wait.

 

Annie was adamant that the voice on the phone last night had been Howard, to which everyone disagreed. It couldn’t be Howard Stark, it was physically impossible. Tony had buried him over 20 years ago. Hell, the Winter Soldier had been the one to put the bullet in him.

 

Howard Stark was dead.

 

So who was on the phone? And how did they get the number?

 

After Annie saying Howard’s name, the man on the other end had asked if she was okay. Once she confirmed she was, the line had gone dead. JARVIS was doing his best to trace the call but it was proving less than fruitful a search.

 

Sabrina handed her brother another smooth pebble and he grinned as he balanced it on top of his little tower of them. Minnie was keeping an eye on them, and they had told Daddy Clint and Daddy Phil where they were going to play. And there were very nice pebbles that felt good to touch.

 

“Nice,” she said and he hummed happily.

 

His tower toppled as the cat landed.

 

“Go get grown ups,” Sabrina ordered and Kiddo was quick to push himself up, running into the house.

 

Sabrina stood and faced the stranger in black, his helmet topped with two pointed ears, his hands complete with metal claws.

 

“You not supposed to be here,” she declared, staring up at him and scowling. “Go away.”

 

“Forgive me, little one,” he said, reaching for his helmet. He pulled it off to reveal a handsome man with skin the colour of chocolate pudding, like her Sam had. “But I must speak with Captain America.”

 

“No. Vacation. No saving people stuff. Go away.”

 

“What’s going on here? Who are you?” Natasha demanded. She pushed Sabrina behind her.

 

“I need to speak with the Avengers.”

 

“So you make an appointment,” she snarled. “You don’t turn up unannounced and scare two children.”

 

“Not scared,” Sabrina offered.

 

“Do not move!” Happy ordered, gun raised.

 

The intruder raised his hands as the entire security team surrounded them, guns raised. Tony and Steve emerged from the house and took in the scene.

 

“I know you,” Tony said. “I bought Vibranium from your dad.”

 

“I am T’Challa, king of Wakanda, and I come for justice!”

 

“What justice?” Steve asked.

 

“Justice for my father.”

 

“Steve,” JARVIS said as he joined them, holding a tablet. “This is T’Challa, son of King T’Chaka of Wakanda. T’Challa is the new king.”

 

“I’m sorry about your father,” Steve said. “But I don’t understand what that has to do with us.”

 

“I seek Sergeant Barnes to answer for this crime,” T’Challa demanded.

 

“You think Bucky did this?” Tony asked incredulously. JARVIS pressed at the tablet before passing it to him. “Huh. Well. Well, that’s pretty good evidence.”

 

“It’s wrong,” Steve dismissed, barely glancing at the video that appeared to show Bucky planting the bomb. “Bucky didn’t do this.”

 

“I have the proof!” T’Challa argued.

 

“Not Daddy Bucky,” Sabrina declared, looking at the tablet. “Nat, look. Not Daddy.”

 

Natasha had positioned herself between Steve and T’Challa, Happy and the other security officers stepping in to help her. Sabrina, annoyed at being ignored, took the tablet and pushed through them to hold it up to Natasha. The redhead took it.

 

“Moya sladkaya, it looks like him,” she said cautiously.

 

“No!”

 

“Hey, what the hell is going on out here?” Annie demanded. “Anthony Edward Stark, what is going on?”

 

“For once, I didn’t do it. This is T’Challa, and he says Bucky bombed the UN, killing his father,” Tony said immediately.

 

Sabrina ran to Annie and held up the tablet.

 

“Mommy, look. Not Daddy Bucky,” she demanded and Annie took the screen from her.

 

“You’re right, that’s not Bucky.” She looked at them all with a raised eyebrow, smirking in amusement. “Have none of you even looked at this?”

 

She perched Sabrina on her hip and handed the tablet to Tony.

 

“Looks like Bucky,” Tony argued.

 

“The arm, Tony, the arm. If this was taken, what? Twenty or so hours ago? That is not Bucky.”

 

Steve looked triumphant and Tony turned flaming red.

 

“That is the evidence!” T’Challa snapped.

 

“That is false,” Annie argued.

 

“Taking that at face value, just for the sake of argument,” Steve said, picking up Kiddo as he toddled over to him and handing him off to JARVIS. “Annie is the mother of his child, the mother of my son. He wouldn’t hurt the kids, no matter what motives he might have.”

 

“I miss something?”

 

Complete pandemonium broke out as Bucky appeared in the doorway. T’Challa moved to try and rip his head off, Steve to stop him, Tony to usher Bucky back inside as he tried to protect Sabrina who was fighting against Annie to get to T’Challa and protect Daddy Bucky. Natasha crowded close to JARVIS, pulling a gun (no one was ever going to ask where she hid that one in her very skimpy sundress) and Kiddo screaming.

 

“That is ENOUGH!” Thor thundered.

 

The sudden volume of him shocked them into silent stillness, all eyes blinking at him.

 

“What in the name of all the realms is going on?” the demigod demanded, plucking Sabrina out of Annie’s arms. “Have peace, little one. This shall be calmed.”

 

“Wants to hurt Daddy Bucky,” she complained. “Says Daddy Bucky do bad thing.”

 

“What?” Bucky asked. “What bad thing? I didn’t do a bad thing! Well, not lately anyway.”

 

“The UN bombing,” Steve said, literally sitting on T’Challa.

 

“What the hell? How could I bomb the UN? I was here. And even if I wasn’t, why would I? Annie was in that!”

 

“There is the proof!” T’Challa screamed.

 

“ENOUGH!” Thor demanded. “These accusations achieve nothing. Peaceful discussion is the only way to resolve this.”

 

“I demand justice.”

 

“And you shall have it, if it is deserved. If not, then it is not yours to dispense. But before justice comes consideration of guilt. Surely you know this?”

 

After a moment of staring incredulously at Thor, T’Challa nodded. Steve cautiously stood up, and stepped away when the king made no move to attack again. JARVIS took the kids inside, and Thor looked at the footage.

 

“I do not believe you will find justice here,” he said eventually. “There seems to be a problem with this.”

 

“The arm?” Tony asked.

 

“Indeed.” He tilted the screen for T’Challa to see. “You see, my friend? This figure has a metal arm. Friend Barnes does not have such an appendage anymore. It was removed by healers on Asgard. With his current arm, carrying out such a heinous act would be difficult, if not impossible. And truly, he has not left these grounds since we arrived.”

 

“I want to believe your words,” T’Challa said carefully. “But I have trouble, knowing what Barnes did in the past.”

 

“He didn’t,” Annie argued.

 

“Annie,” Bucky protested. “I did.”

 

“No, you didn’t. The Winter Soldier did, not you. You are Bucky Barnes, not the fucking Winter Soldier!”

 

“It seems that this has been discussed before,” T’Challa noted.

 

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Steve grumbled.

 

“Can we focus?” Natasha said.

 

Bucky huffed and reached behind his head, pulling his shirt off, and holding out his stump to T’Challa.

 

“See? No metal, no star, no death machine. The guy in that recording…I know he has my face, but it’s not me. I’m sorry about your father, I am. But this is one death that’s not on me.”

 

“How is this achieved?” he asked, cautiously cupping the end in his palm.

 

“Aliens,” Tony grumbled.

 

“Magic,” Thor corrected.

 

“No such thing!” the engineer countered. “It’s just science we don’t get. Yet. But we will!”

 

“Tasha, stand down,” Bucky said. “Everyone stand down. Guns away. He’s not going to hurt me. But he is coming inside and we’re going to talk and eat something and get everything straightened out.”

 

“I’ll warn Minnie,” Steve said and Bucky laughed.

 

“That woman never needs a warning, Punk. She’s ready for anything.”

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

“I can give you something,” Bruce whispered into the dark. “Help you drift.”

 

“No,” Annie said gently. “No drugs.”

 

“How about some camomile tea then?” he said with a smile.

 

She smiled and rolled to face him, reaching out to scratch through his chest hair. It made him shiver. He swept her hair back off her face and swept his hand down her back.

 

“Talk to me,” he urged. “Let me help.”

 

“Get Tony to stop telling me I’m wrong.”

 

“Ah. I see. He’s still adamant it wasn’t Howard.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And you still say it was.”

 

“It was, I’m not just saying it. It was Howard.”

 

“Okay, I believe you heard Howard’s voice,” he placated. “And yes, you would know. He was your brother.”

 

“Is.”

 

“Sorry. Is your brother. But Tony is right too when he points out the bare facts. Howard Stark died. So if we accept that fact, and we add in what you heard, the question becomes how. How could it be Howard?”

 

She fell silent and he amused himself by toying with the strap of the vest top she was wearing. They still had yet to do anything more than kiss. Maybe a little touching, but that had been months ago. He was a patient man, he could wait until she was ready. He didn’t see the point in pressuring her. It was no fun if not everyone was totally into it.

 

“Hydra,” she whispered. “It’s Hydra.”

 

“Probably. Annie, you’re important to them, really important. What they did in Sokovia…I think they wanted us to leave you alone. I think they were hoping Bucky would come with us.”

 

“That backfired,” she snorted. “Not only did they not get me, we got their twins.”

 

“Oh, hey, I got a message from Peter and May. Wanda and Peitro are settling pretty well. The doctors are happy with their progress and they think they’ll be ready for day visits in a couple weeks.”

 

“That’s great.”

 

“And they want you to be the first to visit,” he said. “Apparently, the Baron or whatever he was…he kept on about you to them. Seems like you were their first altered human, the first they really experimented on to enhance.”

 

“And that makes them want to meet me?” she asked bemusedly. “Shouldn’t that make them want me to stay away?”

 

“Apparently not. Can’t say I blame them. You are a person worth knowing.”

 

“You’re biased about that.”

 

“I make no secret of that. Got a message from Fury too.”

 

“What did he want?”

 

“To tell us that the five super soldiers from Siberia are safely in a maximum security unit, and they’re working on trying to neutralise the serum they have. But, he’s not hopeful about that one.”

 

“Yeah, because unmaking super soldiers, that’s super easy.”

 

“Yeah, like curing cancer. But they are trying, so I give them points for that. At least T’Challa has stopped trying to kill Bucky.”

 

“I pity the idiot who actually did this.”

 

“I don’t,” he snarled. “You could have died. They deserve what they get.”

 

He moaned as she leaned in and kissed him, the tip of her tongue tickling his lip, her hands pressing against his chest, sliding down to stroke his nipples.

 

As a general rule, Bruce doesn’t give in to his baser natures. He keeps a lid on things, keeps things calm and serene, keeps Hulk quiet. He does this, and he likes it. Having Hulk go nuts and smash things is not something he enjoys.

 

But there with Annie, her hands on him, her lips on his, he let himself sink into that base nature, let instinct take over.

 

He pulled her closer, cupped her breast, let his mouth find the sweet curve of her neck. She gasped as he nipped at her skin, thumbed a nipple, and he felt his ego grow. He did that, he made her feel like that. Her slim fingers tangled in his curls, the other hand still against his chest, and he moaned as she tugged.

 

He jumped as her fingers plucked at the waistband of his boxers, and he began to harden.

 

“Is this okay?” she whispered.

 

“Absolutely okay with me, if it’s okay with you.”

 

Her warm palm settled against his shaft, delicate fingers curling around it. She didn’t stroke, didn’t squeeze, but just held him, slowly moving, learning him. She weighed his balls, traced the thick vein on the underside, dipped a single fingertip against the tip.

 

They sprung apart as a sleepy cry echoed through the room.

 

“Damn it,” he gasped as her hands disappeared. “We have got to let Thor have her one night. He keeps asking to have her for a night.”

 

“Your timing is terrible, baby,” she cooed, scooping Gabby up. She carried her back to bed and cuddled her close as she wriggled.

 

“I’ll get a bottle,” he said, leaving the room.

 

“Now, see here, young lady,” she murmured, stroking her hair. “At some point, me and Pai are going to want a little grown up time. I do appreciate that your little belly needs filling, but you couldn’t have given us ten minutes?”

 

Gabby let out a wail and Annie smiled to herself.

 

“Okay, okay, I get it.”

 

She held her close, holding her so she could bury her nose against her neck and scent her. She calmed a little, letting out little moans and huffs as she waited for her meal.

 

“See? It’s okay, baby. It’s coming.”

 

Annie sat her on her knee, the tiny girl kicking and pulling at her mothers fingers. Annie couldn’t help but look at the place Hydra had drawn blood. It was in the past, she knew that, but she was still so angry she didn’t have words to describe it. They had touched her baby. They had taken her baby, taken four innocent children and tortured them for weeks. What they’d done to her was one thing, she was a grown woman, but the kids…that was a whole different level of evil.

 

“I pity the fool who ever touches any of the kids again,” Bruce said as he returned, handing over the bottle before climbing back into bed.

 

“They deserve whatever comes their way.”

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Tony was tinkering with a toy teddy bear. They’d watched A.I. the other day and he’d been inspired.

 

JARVIS approached with a cup of coffee and two toasted bagels.

 

“My favourite artificial lifeform,” Tony said.

 

“Thank you. Tony, I wonder if I may talk with you.”

 

“Sure, buddy, anytime. What’s up?”

 

“There have been several sustained attacks on my systems for the past two days, ever since the bombing. Until now I did not believe it to be of importance. I have people trying to get past my security protocols every day, it is no unusual occurrence. But this…Tony, this is different. The person or organisation carrying out these attacks is far more skilled than any other.”

 

Tony shoved the bagel in his mouth and accepted the tablet JARVIS offered.

 

“This is slick,” he said through his bite. “I can’t remember the last time we saw something like this.”

 

Tony froze as JARVIS twitched, his whole head jerking to the side. New information was coming in, and the AI was working on processing it.

 

“Avengers Assemble,” JARVIS announced, his voice echoing through the speakers through the property.

 

In minutes they were all gathered together in the kitchen.

 

“There is a bomber in Rascafría, just north of Madrid, threatening to kill approximately 100 people if he is not allowed to talk to Tony or Steve.”

 

“Not sure why we’re being tagged in,” Clint said.

 

“Seems a little minor compared to the usual things we’re called for,” Natasha agreed.

 

“This is true, but you are being alerted because of the identity of the bomber.”

 

He waved his hand, which opened at the palm to reveal a projector. He shone the image onto the wall.

 

Steve caught Tony as his knees gave out.

 

“Dad,” Tony whispered.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another cliffhanger, but I promise good exciting things are coming next chapter.
> 
> Happy New Year. Goodbye 2017, you sucked, don't come back.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a while but here it is.
> 
> I'm so sorry. There's another cliffhanger. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Tony focussed on the tech in front of him and not on the tension between his team-mates.

 

Annie was angry at Bucky because he wanted her to say home with the kids, she was angry at him for trying to tell her what to do. Steve was pissed at Natasha for teaching Annie martial arts, Natasha at Steve for trying to, as she perceived it, keep Annie helpless.

 

Then there were the ones at home pissed at them. Thor was pissed for having to stay home and protect the kids and non-enhanced family, Loki that Steve and Tony had both gone, Sabrina that their vacation had been interrupted once again, Phil was ticked off at Clint for coming with them, Clint at Phil for even questioning why he wanted him to stay with the kids.

 

Everyone was angry with everyone, and Tony was just trying to stay focussed.

 

“Ready?” Annie asked, securing the last buckle. She was in a plain jumpsuit, skintight leather. Very similar to what Natasha wore. Yeah, Steve might actually eviscerate him for making it for her.

 

Well, how was he supposed to know Steve wanted her to stay home and play house? She was a supersoldier, and the other two wanted to fight. Why would he even guess that Annie wouldn’t want to?!

 

“Just about. Oh, for the love of- what the fuck are you doing here?”

 

“Howard was my friend,” Nick said sternly. “And no matter what else has happened, I still stand by that. I’m here to offer his son my support and resources.”

 

“We don’t even know if it’s really him,” Steve argued.

 

“It is,” Annie retorted.

 

“Can we talk this over again when this is done?” Bucky interrupted. “Let’s just make sure no one dies and then figure all that crap out.”

 

“What do you need?” Nick asked.

 

“Cover while I go in,” Steve said, holding up a hand to stop Annie in her tracks. “Stop. I’m not sending you in there. I’m going in alone. You are staying here with Bucky.”

 

“You are not my Captain, Rogers,” she spat.

 

“No, I’m your family and your friend, and as such I want you safe. You’re here, right here, ready to jump into a life and death situation. Don’t make it worse. Please.”

 

She huffed and crossed her arms but didn’t argue so he took it as a win.

 

“Captain?” said a young SHIELD agent. She couldn’t have been more than twenty.

 

“What are you doing, robbing high school graduations?” he asked Nick, who stared at him soundlessly. “Yes, Agent?”

 

“For you,” she said, holding out a cellphone.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Steve?”

 

“Howard,” he said clearly, catching Tony’s eye. His lover took the hint and tapped away at his tech, tracking the call. “I’m glad you called.”

 

“How? How is it you?” he demanded.

 

“Something to do with the serum. When I went into the ice, it kept me sort of…frozen, but not dead.”

 

“Cryo?”

 

“I think that’s it. Howard, they said you have a bomb. Is that true?”

 

“I tried to call,” he said angrily. “I kept trying. I asked for you, and Tony, and Annie. I wanted…he wouldn’t let me talk to you! He kept saying I didn’t have authorisation!”

 

“No, that’s not on you,” he soothed. “I promise. It’s our security. He’s instructed to keep unwanted callers away, or we’d be dealing with press all the time. I’m sorry you had that trouble, but he’s just trying to protect us.”

 

“She said she was okay. Is she?”

 

He glanced at Annie’s scowl. “She is.”

 

Howard was silent for a few minutes; Steve could hear him breathing and muttering to himself about Annie.

 

“I want to talk to you. Just you. No cops. I see cops, I’m shooting, got it?!” Howard demanded.

 

“I got it. No cops, just me.”

 

“No mikes. No cameras. No cowl.”

 

“Okay, I can do that.”

 

“Are you in the uniform?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Bring the shield.”

 

The line went dead and Steve took a deep breath.

 

“I’m going in,” he announced. “Just me. No cops or agents, no surveillance, face uncovered, and I need to take the shield.” He glanced up at the rooftops surrounding the square. “Do you all understand?”

 

“Got it, Cap,” Clint said through the comm., patched through Tony’s tablet. “Eyes on.”

 

“I don’t like this,” Bucky said. “For the record.”

 

“For the record, me neither,” Steve agreed. “But he said he’d start shooting, so I don’t have a choice. You’ll be right here, and I’ll take my cell, so if something goes sideways you can call.”

 

He gave Tony a hard kiss before hefting the shield and stepping out into the bright, sun-filled square. It was beautiful here, all ornate architecture and little stores.

 

He could feel Clint’s eyes on him as he crossed, and it gave him comfort, knowing he was watching.

 

The church was cool and quiet, with just the faintest whisper of scared sniffs and gasps.

 

Howard was sitting on the alter, staring down the aisle at him. In one hand he had a handgun, in the other a detonator. There were people in the first two rows, all staring at the dark-haired man with fear. Steve could she the glint of rosaries between fingers, prayers on lips.

 

Howard looked awful. He had an obvious fever, face flushed and sweaty, clothes ragged and torn, his once meticulous facial hair was a straggly mess, and his hair was matted and caked in dirt.

 

“Hi,” Steve said, leaning the shield against a pew. He had a feeling he didn’t actually need to defend himself, that Howard only wanted it as proof that it really was him.

 

“You alone?”

 

“Yup. Just me.”

 

“Good. Can’t trust ‘em, can’t trust none of them. Could be anywhere.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Don’t think I don’t know! I know, I see.” His eyes darted around, flitting here and there, landing on the hostages and the doors. “I see,” he muttered to himself. “I know what they are. I know. They think I don’t.”

 

“Howard,” he said clearly, ducking to catch his eye. “You’re not looking so good. Maybe we should get you to someone, someone who can help.”

 

“NO!” he screamed, shooting to his feet, and the hostages flinched. He waved his hands as he spoke, and even Steve was nervous of the gun flying through the air. “I knew it! I knew you weren’t Steve! You’re one of them, you want to take me back!”

 

“Hey!” he barked, hands held up in supplication. “No one is taking you anywhere. I just don’t want you sick, and you look like you’re about to keel over.” He took a gentle step forward. “No one is going to make you do anything, or go anywhere, or see anyone you don’t want to. I’m just trying to help you. You’re my friend, and you asked for me or Tony.”

 

“Tony,” he murmured, swaying in place. He’d at least dropped his hands. “My son. He’s…he’s here?”

 

“Outside. And Annie.” He snorted. “She refused to stay home.”

 

“Is she okay? I called and she said she was but you know what she’s like. She could be dying and she’d still tell me she was on top of the world.”

 

“She really is okay. She was shaken, but physically she’s fine. You know…she can’t actually get hurt.”

 

“The hell?”

 

“When they had her, they did things. Found something in her DNA and made it work. She’s like me, a supersoldier. Kind of like me. We haven’t really had a chance to test it, so we’re not entirely sure.”

 

“She’s always been strong. Tony’s just like her. I never meant…when he was young…”

 

“Howard, I think, maybe, we should let some of these folks go. It would be a good faith gesture. They’d all be a lot less twitchy if we did.”

 

Howard rubbed at his forehead, smearing sweat and dirt, and looked at the people gathered before him. It gave Steve a look at the back of his neck. It was so swollen, the skin shiny and red. There were fresh incisions and older scars, evidence of at least a dozen surgeries.

 

“Yeah, yeah, let’s do that. That’s…yeah. We do that.”

 

“Good. Good.” Steve stepped forward and they all focussed on the star on his chest.

 

“Capitán América. ¿Has venido a ayudarnos?” asked one of the nuns.

 

“Si, Hermana. Si. Uhhhhh. Primero necesito a los pequeños. Los niños. Solo por ahora. Por favor?”

 

“Si, si.”

 

She stood and gathered the children and then put one of the eldest in charge. He took the hand of the smallest that could walk and carried the toddler, the others trailing behind him as he headed to the door. As she had instructed, he didn’t look back, though many of the other ones did. Eventually, they made it out the door, into the sun, and Steve could hear the shouts of adults taking them to safety.

 

“I forgot that,” he said, staring at Steve. “The thing with the languages. I forgot how quick you can learn them.” Howard jumped as Steve’s phone rang.

 

“Easy, Stark. They’re just checking in.” He raised it to his ear, the gun trained on him. “Not a good time.”

 

“Steve, she slipped me!” Bucky said. “I had a hold of her, and then when the kids came out she slipped out my hold and now she’s AWOL!”

 

“What about Hawk? He got eyes?”

 

“No, no one has. We were distracted by the kids.”

 

Howard swung around wildly as the door behind him opened and Annie appeared, hair loose and wild and making her look so much younger. She stood stock still as he trained the gun on her.

 

“I got her.”

 

“The fuck? How?”

 

“Back door. Nobody move. He’s liable to shoot her. Hey, you remember that neighbour we had?”

 

“You need to tell me something and you don’t want him to know.”

 

“Yeah. I’ve been trying to remember his name. You know, the one with the cat?”

 

“Oh man. We’ll have medical standing by. Mr Worikansan.”

 

“That’s the one.”

 

“Where is it?”

 

“You remember that girl you gave that valentine to? With the thing?”

 

“Phylis, birthmark on the back of her neck?”

 

“Phylis, that’s it.”

 

“Yeah, we’ve known each other way too long.”

 

The phone went dead and Steve grinned to himself.

 

“Who was that?” Howard demanded, his gaze (and gun) fixed on Annie.

 

“A friend.”

 

“You don’t have any friends.”

 

“I do now,” Steve said.

 

“Howard,” Annie said gently. “Can I join you?”

 

“No. You shouldn’t be here. I asked for him, not you. It’s not…You need to go.”

 

“Hydra aren’t coming here,” she said and it suddenly made sense to Steve.

 

“You don’t know that!” he yelled, voice echoing off the walls and high ceilings. “Where were you when they got to you! When they took you! At home, asleep, safe behind locked doors with me! And now, you’re telling me they aren’t coming!”

 

“They’re not,” she snapped. “They have no idea this is you, nor that the Avengers are here, let alone that I am. So don’t get all high and mighty with me.”

 

“You’re my sister, I’m supposed to protect you. And I couldn’t.”

 

“They took me in the middle of the damn night, it’s not like you were standing there watching while they carted me off.”

 

“No, not then. The other…with Andrew. I was holding him. And they were hurting you. The other you, the little one.”

 

“Oh my God,” she breathed, gripping at the doorframe. “Oh God, you were there. The lab, Siberia. I thought I dreamed it but I didn’t, did I? You were there. You…” She stopped, taking a few deep breaths before carrying on, voice much more steady. “That wasn’t Andrew, and that wasn’t a little me.”

 

“I saw them,” he demanded. “I held him!”

 

“I’m not saying they’re not real,” she spat. “I’m saying they’re not me and Andy. Those children, the two little ones. They’re mine, my children. Her name is Sabrina, she’s four, and his name is Christopher. He’s two.”

 

“I…I have a niece? A nephew?”

 

“No, don’t you dare! They’re not yours, they’re mine! Do you hear me! Mine. They’re NOTHING to do with you!” she snarled.

 

“You’re mad at me,” he said, and Steve wondered if maybe he didn’t fully understand how angry she was. Steve would never be so stupid as to say something that obvious.

 

“Gee, you think?” she said sarcastically, moving further into the room. Howard was stunned enough to lower the gun, taking a step back. “What gave me away?”

 

“Annie, I’m sorry. I looked for you, I did.”

 

“You think…Jesus, you think that’s what I’m angry about? That you couldn’t find me?”

 

“It’s not?”

 

“No, not even close.”

 

“Then…?”

 

“Howard, you’re standing in a church full of innocent people, nuns, CHILDREN. And you’re holding a gun, you’re threatening a bomb. Did you see them? The children? Did you see how tiny they are, how innocent, how afraid? You brought death into a house of God because you couldn’t get your own way and you don’t see why I’d be mad at you?”

 

He began to pace, shooting looks between her and Steve and the remaining hostages.

 

“I tried,” he began and she scoffed. “I did! I tried getting through and that damn British fucker kept cutting me off!”

 

“You leave him out of this!” she screamed, and Steve stepped between them.

 

Howard would get really hurt if she threw him across the room. Steve could take it, he was made to take it. Howard, not so much.

 

“Let’s just calm down a little,” Steve suggested. “Let’s just focus. Howard, we need you to disable the bomb.”

 

“I can’t. You won’t listen to me if I do. I need it,” he argued.

 

“Okay, okay. Howard, let’s just talk. Let’s talk…about…” he looked pleadingly at Annie.

 

“I can’t remember what nuts mom put in her cookies,” she said and Howard stared at her.

 

“What?”

 

“Mom’s cookies. I can sort of remember her, and I remember her cookies. See, I’ve been trying to make them, because I want the kids to have them. But I can’t get them right.”

 

“Beetroot,” he said softly. “She used beetroot ‘cause we didn’t have eggs. The chickens…we had to eat ‘em.”

 

She smiled and bit her lip. “So that’s why they were pink. But they were crunchy.”

 

“Cheap ass flour cut with millet.”

 

“I think Tony might need to stop shopping for my ingredients,” she said with a smile at Steve.

 

“Tony?” Howard asked. “You…you know Tony? My Tony?”

 

“Yeah, I do. I live with him, we all live together,” she said, slowly wandering to the lectern and running reverent fingers over the Bible. “He takes care of me.”

 

“Tony doesn’t take care of anything,” he scoffed.

 

Steve didn’t see it happen, he couldn’t have told anyone later how it happened, but suddenly Annie was right behind him, her arm around his neck, cutting off his air. In his shock, Howard flailed, dropping his gun and the bomb detonator. The gun hit the floor butt first and went off, the sound deafening, the bullet shattering one of the stained glass windows.

 

One of the nuns screamed and there was a sudden swell of noise from outside, followed by the doors slamming open and Tony skidding inside, closely followed by Bucky.

 

Annie laid Howard on the ground and shakily stepped back, only managing a few steps before her knees gave out. She stared at him and then looked at Tony in horror at what she had done.

 

She’d choked her brother until he’d passed out, and she’d done it in a church.

 

The guilt pressed down on her chest until she couldn’t breathe.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

The family had gone home.

 

It had been decided that returning to the Tower was the best thing for everyone at that moment in time. They might return to the villa later, but for the moment the Tower was better. The family were in the penthouse, entertaining the kids and waiting for news, while Tony, Annie and Steve were on the medical floor, waiting.

 

Tony watched as Bruce and Dr. Simmons took a look at Howard. The older man had been sedated when it looked like he was going to come around while on the StarkJet. Annie was curled in a chair staring at the door, waiting for something to happen; Steve paced incessantly, wanting to do something but having no purpose at that moment.

 

Tony couldn’t move from the observation window.

 

He had never seen his father look so young. He couldn’t be much older than 20. It looked like him, sounded like him, even knew things only he could know. But Tony had buried his father over 20 years ago, and he was much older than this man.

 

“Annie,” Steve said eventually.

 

“Don’t,” she snapped. “Just don’t. Whatever you’re about to say, whatever you think will help me right now, just don’t.”

 

“You didn’t have a choice,” he persisted and she shot to her feet.

 

“I just choked a man until he lost consciousness! I wrapped my arm around his neck until he passed out! Please, for the love of God, do NOT try and make me feel better.”

 

“Annie.”

 

“Just go.”

 

“But-”

 

“Steve,” Tony said. “Go. Take care of Loki and Sarah. I’ll stay.”

 

The blond hesitated, staring at Annie, before he kissed Tony hard and determinedly strode to the stairwell.

 

“Better?”

 

“Thanks,” she said.

 

“He’s right, and I think we both know it.”

 

“Don’t.”

 

“No, I’m going to. Annie, he had a gun and a bomb in a fucking church, with nuns and innocent people. We’re Avengers, all of us. Protecting people is what we do.”

 

“I’m not an Avenger.”

 

“Bullshit. You’re as much an Avenger as I am.”

 

“You’ve saved the world.”

 

“You’ve saved thousands too,” he said, taking a seat beside her. “All the donations you give, the food drives, the charity work. You’ve taken dozens of underfunded causes in this city and given them a voice, a face, a place in people’s consciousness. Because of you, adoption numbers have risen to never before seen numbers. Thousands of children now have families and homes because you took the stigma out of it. You made it normal to build a family in whatever way works. Annie, you opened twenty homeless shelters this past winter. Twenty. Count ‘em. That’s a whole lot of homeless who didn’t die, who had a hot meal. How many letters and emails from young people do you answer every week?”

 

“I don’t know,” she mumbled.

 

“I do. Somewhere between…oh, twelve and eighteen hundred. A week.”

 

“It’s not that many.”

 

“You’re right, it’s closer to two thousand. I’m no slouch, I see you dictating to JARVIS while you work and bake and play with Gabby.”

 

“Okay, I do charity work and letters and all that, but it doesn’t make me an Avenger.”

 

“So you think going out and doing the grand big gesture things is the only way to be an Avenger?”

 

“Yes, I do.”

 

She knew he was trying to distract her and she was letting him. It was nice, to go back and forth with him without thinking of what was beyond that pane of glass.

 

“Phil doesn’t do that,” he countered. “He never went out and did the big gestures. But he was still enough of an Avenger that Fury raised him from the dead. The world needed him, still needs him. He’s our moral compass, he always points true north. And you’re the same. You save people. Maybe not in the big showy way, maybe not in the Fox News way, but you still save them. That’s what counts.”

 

“Screw Fox,” she muttered and he pulled her in, pressing a kiss to her hair.

 

The door opened and Bruce poked his head out.

 

“Where’s Captain Stress?”

 

“Sent him to cool off with the Icicle,” Tony said. “How’s it going in there?”

 

“Well, I’m not really sure what we’re looking at,” Bruce admitted, leaning against the wall and polishing his glasses. “He’s stable, and his vitals are good. But he has a massive viral load, and there’s been at least a dozen surgeries on his brain and spine.”

 

“Is he Howard?” Annie asked.

 

“We ran the DNA against the both of you. It’s a match, but it’s not.”

 

“What does that even mean?”

 

“It’s too perfect a match. Physically, he is not Howard Stark. Annie, he’s your clone. He’s been…created, for want of a better word. They took your DNA and…well, it’s like when you edit a computer programme. The original is there but it’s not quite as it should be. His chronological markers are far too young to put him as Tony’s father.”

 

“How old is he?” Tony asked.

 

“Biologically, he’s twenty two.”

 

“But…he remembered,” she argued. “He remembered the cookies our mom made.”

 

“I can’t explain that. I can’t actually explain any of it. The technology it would take to do this, to make him…Bucky’s arm was one thing, but this…you know, just when I think I get how unethical those fuckers are, I get a whole new load of fucked up.”

 

“Hey,” she soothed, crossing to him and curling into his arms.

 

She’d only meant to comfort him, to calm him down to Hulk didn’t break the medical floor. However, she’d managed to get a perfect view into the room where the clone lay. He was pale and sweating and looked so much like the brother she missed.

 

“Hulk is sleeping,” he muttered into her hair. “He got bored by all the Latin.”

 

She laughed so hard she had tears and ended up kneeling on the floor.

 

“So…what’s the next step?” Tony asked as she tried to calm down.

 

“I think he needs more help than I can give him,” Bruce admitted. “For one, I am so far from a brain surgeon. This is so beyond my knowledge base.”

 

“I know someone,” he said. “Actually, I know of someone. But I’ll get him. Supposed to be the best.”

 

“I hope so. Because he needs a whole lot of help.”

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Doctor Stephen Strange was an arrogant man, but also brilliant and a possessor of an eidetic memory. He achieved his medical degree and PhD simultaneously, which was very impressive, and his work on nerve regeneration and repair was ground-breaking.

 

Hydra had had him on their watchlist for years.

 

When he was at the very peak of his career, Stephen had been involved in a high speed car crash which shattered his hands. After that, he had journeyed east until he found someone who could help him.

 

He had found the Masters of the Mystic Arts at the secretive compound of Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Ancient One had taught him to be a sorcerer, to manipulate energy, to think beyond himself and his own needs.

 

When the Ancient One had been killed, when the fate of the world had hung in the balance, Stephen had taken up the mantel of Sorcerer. He’d saved the world and became another of its protectors.

 

Technically, he was on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s list of Avengers, though they had never called him nor did they pay him.

 

He, handily for the Avengers, lived in the New York Sanctum, watching over the earth and her possible enemies.

 

He’d ignored all attempts at contact, which prompted Tony to go in person.

 

It took approximately ten seconds for Tony to decide he really hated Stephen Strange.

 

“Stop fucking moving me through rooms!” he yelled as he appeared before a glass case containing a book.

 

“Sorry. It’s habit. As I’ve said, Mr Stark, I’m not a surgeon anymore,” Stephen said, leaning against the doorframe.

 

“I don’t need you to operate, I need you to consult.”

 

“Oh. You didn’t put that in your messages.”

 

“You never replied!”

 

“I just assumed.”

 

“Stupid choice, assuming anything. Never assume when it comes to a Stark or an Avenger.”

 

“Good point. You do seem to have a knack of defying the odds. So, what is it I can do for you? Please.” Tony heaved as they moved to yet another room. “Have a seat. Tea?”

 

“Is the fucking chair going to move?”

 

“No.”

 

Tony gingerly sat down and then blinked at the teacup suddenly in his hand.

 

“Now, I like that one. Can you make coffee?” The cup changed to a mug of the most amazing smelling dark roast. “Very nice.”

 

“So, what is it you want me to consult on?”

 

Tony outlined what they knew so far. And what they couldn’t explain.

 

Annie and Steve had talked to Howard, a heavily restrained Howard. He knew things that only the real Howard Stark could know. He remembered Annie’s first toy, the name of her childhood imaginary friend, the way she cried at night when he first took her away from their alcoholic father. He remembered Steve’s words in the Project Rebirth chamber, the number of shots Peggy fired at him, why he blushed at the word fondue.

 

There were other things, even more insignificant things that were suddenly monumentally significant when they came from the lips of a man that couldn’t possibly be who he appeared to be.

 

“Well, I’ll need to meet him. Shall we?” Stephen said, standing.

 

“Whoa, hold up, Merlin. Can we just walk to the front door? And travel like normal people to the Tower?”

 

He seemed to consider it, and then said, “No.”

 

Tony hated him a little bit more with every moment.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Bucky was avoiding the whole situation. It wasn’t every day one of his nightmares was a few short floors away.

 

He focussed on the kids, retrieving a teether for Gabby, and pressing a kiss to Sabrina’s hair. She was curled up in the bowl of his crossed legs, mumbling as she read a book to herself. It was incredible to him how fast she’d learned to read. It took her less than a week to go from learning the alphabet to reading A Little Princess.

 

It was her current read, and she was so determined to read it all by herself. The only time she didn’t was when she couldn’t figure out a word alone, which was getting rarer and rarer.

 

“Daddy? This one?”

 

He glanced down and smiled.

 

“Peculiar,” he said.

 

“Peculiar,” she repeated. “What mean?”

 

“It means…kind of strange, but not bad. Just…different. Not like others.”

 

“Oh. Daddy peculiar.”

 

“Yes, I am.”

 

She nodded to herself, satisfied, and returned to reading. He held her close, breathing in the sweet smell of her hair. He reasoned that if he could make something as perfect as his baby girl, maybe there might be something in him worth saving.

 

Sort of.

 

“Daddy?”

 

“Yeah, baby?”

 

“When Nat coming home?”

 

“Soon. Soon as she can.”

 

“Why she go?”

 

He sighed. “You remember where Steve and the others went, right before we came home?”

 

“A bad man with a bomb. Steve stop him.”

 

“That’s right. Tasha has gone to try and find out more about him.”

 

“He’s not a bad man,” Tony said as he joined them, scooping up Sarah as she reached for him and peppering her face with kisses. “He’s just…a little confused.”

 

“He hurt people,” she said, confused.

 

“He didn’t really mean to. He was scared. People do things when they’re scared, they make bad decisions.”

 

“Oh.” She considered Tony and Bucky for a moment. “Like what the Trolls say.”

 

“Exactly,” Bucky said. “The Trolls told Ana that people make bad choices…”

 

“When they’re mad or hurt or stressed,” she sang. “So he was scared and did a bad thing?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Why he scared?”

 

“He’s scared because the bad people had him,” Annie said as she joined them.

 

Gabby squealed and reached for her, making grabby hands, and she scooped her up, holding her close. The tiny girl cuddled close, pressing her ear to Annie’s chest, tiny hands gripping her hair and shirt.

 

Kiddo took the opportunity for what it was and scooped up the bear Gabby had been pounding on. He was just like Steve, taking any opening he could. He was happy enough to share, while he had to, but he clearly remembered being the only kid in the tower, because he much preferred to play on his terms. He took the bear and crawled over so he could cuddle against Sabrina’s legs, and Bucky toyed with his curls.

 

“Stupid bad peoples,” Sabrina muttered, leaning more firmly into Bucky.

 

They lounged about and played for a while, until Steve appeared, trailed by Clint and Phil, who looked worried.

 

“Hey, Buck,” Steve said, squatting down to accept the hug Kiddo wanted to give. “Can I borrow Sabrina for a moment?”

 

“No,” she said, clinging to Bucky. “No go.”

 

“No, baby,” Clint soothed. “You don’t have to get up or move or stop playing. We just need you to look at a picture.”

 

“Just look?”

 

“Just a little look,” he promised and Kiddo toddled over to Phil and snuggled in.

 

“Why look?”

 

“The man that me and Mommy went to stop?” Steve asked.

 

“The scared man.”

 

“Yes, the scared man,” Tony agreed, giving Steve a look that he would explain later.

 

“Well, the scared man told us that he met you. He said that he was at the bad place, that that was where he was when the bad people hurt him. He said he met you and Kiddo there.”

 

“Steve,” Bucky warned. “I don’t know…”

 

“It’s okay, Bucky,” Phil promised. “It’s just a picture, and it’s only to know if she recognises him.”

 

“Picture?” Sabrina asked.

 

“Yeah, baby,” Clint said, reaching for her. She went willingly, cuddling into him. “Can you do that? Take a look at the picture for me?”

 

“Why?”

 

“We want to make sure he is who he says he is. We want to know if he’s lying to us.”

 

“Oh. Okay.” She reached for the tablet and Steve swiped to show the image.

 

Howard, laying in his hospital bed. It had been taken an hour before, and, all things considered, he looked pretty good for a dead man. He was pale, dark circles under his eyes, but most of his tubes and wires were out of sight.

 

“The cookie man,” she said.

 

“Cookie man?” Phil asked.

 

“Used to come after all gone. Bring cookies, and says he sorry. He hold Kiddo.”

 

“Holy shit, I didn’t dream it,” Annie said.

 

“Googie!” Kiddo cried as he caught sight of the image. “A googie!”

 

“He gave you cookies?” Clint asked and he nodded. “Sabrina, baby, did he hold you?”

 

“No.” She reached for Monkey and stroked his fur. “Not me. Just Kiddo. I did bad.”

 

“What do you mean, baby doll?” Bucky asked. “What did you do?”

 

“He came in and I was scared. And mad. Tried to pick me up,” she mumbled, cuddling her toy and curling closer to Clint. “Didn’t mean to.”

 

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Tony promised. “Whatever you did, it’s okay. You were scared, and the bad people were hurting you. So whatever you did is okay because you were trying to keep you and Kiddo safe.”

 

“Make a hand go crunch,” she admitted. “And a bite.”

 

“I see,” Phil said. “Well, I can understand why he didn’t try to pick you up after that. I think I’d be a little afraid after that. But…was he working with the bad people? Did he hurt you or Kiddo?”

 

“No. Theys was mean to him too. They hit him, here,” she said, putting her hand on Clint’s cheek. “And then when he was on the floor, they kept hitting and kicking. He was crying and they grab his arm and pulled him away. Heard him scream. Wasn’t Steve. Steve said lots of grown up words. And Mommy sounded different. Was the Cookie Man screaming. They hurts him real bad.”

 

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Steve said, kissing her on the hair. “That’s a really big help to us.”

 

“I help?”

 

“Yes, you helped so much.”

 

“Good. I have a cookie now?”

 

“Come on,” Bucky chuckled. “I’ll get you an ice cream sandwich.”

 

Both kids trailed him like ducklings.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Howard stared at the ceiling and breathed slowly. He knew, logically, the tiles were not moving. But they were to his mind.

 

“Is he okay?” Steve asked, frowning at the screen. “He looks…”

 

“It’s the morphine,” Bruce assured. “Completely normal.”

 

“I’ve finished the scans and I think I know what’s going on.” Strange had just appeared before them through one of his portals. Tony glared at him.

 

“Howard’s never been that still,” Steve continued.

 

“He’s processing a lot,” Tony said. “His brain is going really fast. And plus the painkillers have just kicked in again, so he’s kind of floating. He’s always done this on morphine.”

 

“Uh, hello? I was talking,” Strange complained.

 

“And he was reassuring Steve,” Annie countered. “Far more important.”

 

“Rude.”

 

“Uh, hello, pot, meet kettle.”

 

“Enough, children,” Bruce scolded with a smile. “What do the scans show?”

 

“The little girl was accurate. His right hand was broken not too long ago, and there’s evidence of multiple contusions so I would estimate they assaulted him multiple times. The swelling on the neck is a post-op infection, a pretty bad one. Ideally, I’d like to incise it and drain.”

 

“How did they do this?” Tony asked. “He has the memories of my father and the body of a clone. How did they do this?”

 

“What’s that?” Annie asked, pointing at the scan on the screen. It was a cross section of the nerves in Howard’s neck.

 

“I don’t see anything,” Steve said, and the other two men agreed. Strange was smiling at her.

 

“What do you think it is?”

 

“I don’t know. It looks…kind of like when you break a plate and fix it. There’s always that line where the break was.”

 

“And if asked you to offer a theory about what it is?”

 

“And remember,” Steve said. “It’s Hydra. They don’t care about morality or medical ethics.”

 

She peered at the scan and then at the screen showing Howard, who was watching his hand move slowly back and forth.

 

“Oh, God,” she whimpered. “We’re right. Tony, we’re both right. It’s a clone body, so no, it’s not Howard. But it is his mind. They took his brain. They’ve spliced the nerves together. This line…it’s the join.”

 

“Precisely,” Strange confirmed. “He’s a replacement. The brain is original to the original Howard Stark, obviously extracted and there is evidence of preservative chemicals in his system. I’ll hazard a guess that they removed the brain from the original Howard and kept it is cryo until this clone body was ready, which was less than a year ago.”

 

“Wh-why?” Steve gagged. “Why would they…what would be the point?”

 

“I don’t know. I’m not privy to the inner workings of a psychopathic organization of evil. But I would hazard a guess that perhaps they didn’t intend Howard’s death and needed him alive.”

 

“I don’t care,” Annie said. “It doesn’t matter why they did it. What matters is that they did. So where do we go from here?”

 

“First step is to control the infection, get him healthy,” Bruce said, Strange nodding along. They were both tapping away at tablets, blue screens being projected by JARVIS for them to work on. “After that is rehabilitation, get him fit for life. From what I see, he needs a lot of help.”

 

“He’ll get it,” Steve promised.

 

“Steve’s right,” Tony said. “Anything he needs, Bruce. Anything. Just name it and I’ll get it here. Money no object.”

 

“Right now he just need to heal.”

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Clint leaned against the door and watched as Phil ignored him.

 

“So you’re still mad at me.”

 

“I’m not mad,” Phil replied, turning the page of his book. “Why on earth would I be mad at you? What possible reason could there be for me to be mad?”

 

“Phil, come on. I had to go.”

 

“So you went.”

 

“He’s Tony’s dad. And there was a church full of people.”

 

“And your daughter was so mad she broke three chairs,” he said, finally raising his eyes to glare at him. “I’m not angry that you went, I understand why you did. And I agree with you going. What I don’t agree with is you leaving without explaining to our four year old.”

 

He grimaced. “Yeah, that’s…okay, that was a dick move.”

 

“And our son refused to eat until you came home. He was crying for you. Do you have any idea how hard it was to listen to him cry? Not even Sabrina could calm him down.” He sighed and tossed the book on the nightstand. “We can’t do this anymore. Clint. Things have to change.”

 

“You mean…you want me to stop being an Avenger.”

 

“What? No! We just need to change how things are done. Clint, I love that you’re an Avenger. I love that you save people, that you’re important to the city and the world. Come here.”

 

Clint went willingly, crawling onto the bed and into Phil’s lap.

 

“I didn’t think,” he said, stroking at Phil’s scar. “I just went.”

 

“I know, and I get it. I do. Me and you…it’s easy with us. I get you. I know how your mind works and where it comes from. We’ve been doing this for a long time. But the kids…Clint, they’re special kids. Where they came from…”

 

“They need more.”

 

“They do.”

 

“I’ll do better. I’ll…I’ll be better. I swear.”

 

“I know you will. I have no doubt. You’ve always done the very best you can at everything you do. And this time, you need me to lead you a little, teach you a few things about how…more…traditional families work. Where you came from…it’s not a good example. And it’s okay for you not to know how to do this.” He leaned in and kissed him, hands reaching to grip his hips.

 

Clint surrendered to it, melting under his touch, opening his mouth so Phil’s tongue could map his. He threaded his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, holding on tight as he shifted forward, feeling Phil harden beneath him.

 

“You good?”

 

“Mmmm, not tonight. Too tired. But you keep wriggling.”

 

Clint chuckled and eased off, their kisses gentling. He let himself sink down into simply hugging, curling close with his face in Phil’s neck, feeling Phil’s hands stroke his back.

 

“I don’t know how to do this,” he admitted. “I…what if I fuck them up?”

 

“Clint…you love them. You’re not going to be a perfect parent because those don’t exist. But you’re going to love them and fight for them and do your very best. Which is more than your parents did.”

 

“True.”

 

“So, if you do everything your parents didn’t do, you’ll probably do okay.”

 

He kissed Phil’s neck.

 

“Sounds like a logical plan.”

 

“I do try. Just relax. Trust me, they’ll let us know when something is wrong.”

 

“Yeah. I’ll spend time with them tomorrow. Talk to them, explain. And I’ll do better next time.”

 

“That’s all I ask.”

 

They sat there for a while longer, just holding each other, until Phil let out a particularly long yawn. They curled into bed, cuddled together, Phil draped over him.

 

They weren’t perfect parents, but they were the perfect parents for the kids they had, and that was enough.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

It was a mistake.

 

It was the biggest mistake he’d ever made, and he’d made plenty.

 

Bucky stumbled into the elevator and JARVIS took him up to his floor, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He crashed into the stairwell and took them two at a time until he reached the penthouse. Loki was settled on the couch half asleep, some action movie on the TV while he nursed Sarah. It was late, no one should still be up, but babies don’t really listen to that.

 

“Bucky?” Loki murmured. “Are you alright?”

 

He opened his mouth but nothing would come, the words lodged in his throat, nothing but the rising bile and hatred inside.

 

He backed away, tripping over his own feet, crashing into the breakfast bar. The smash of the glass fruit bowl was deafening.

 

“Bucky? Buck, what are you doing?” Steve asked.

 

How long had he been standing there? Steve and Tony were both watching him, Annie appearing in the doorway of her room, sleepily rubbing her eyes.

 

He was bad, he was so very bad, and he couldn’t. They’d be infected, he’d make them just as dirty as he was. But Thor was appearing in the door to the stairs, so there was no way out. They were boxing him in, keeping him there, and he couldn’t. He would spread it, this darkness, and they were so much better than that. Than him.

 

Sarah was so small and sleepy and breakable in Loki’s arms. She was so innocent. She deserved better, they all did.

 

He couldn’t. His ledger was red, it was gushing, dripping red and couldn’t ever come clean.

 

Before they could stop him, he bolted for the balcony, and threw himself over.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the deal. I was raised by my grandmother, and in 2016 she was diagnosed with an incredibly rare form of lung cancer. In February this year, there was a development and she started treatment. This treatment has side effects and they are freaking rough. I'm now in charge of everything in the house, and I'm not sleeping too well. To add to it, I have custody of my 15 year old sister, who is right in the middle of her GCSE's and has literally, like two days ago, had surgery on her ingrown toenail.
> 
> So I'm tired and writing time is hard to find. But I am still writing, and I will post as often as I can. 
> 
> But real life is kicking my arse with steel toecapped boots right now.


	4. Chapter Four

Steve all but fell through the door and onto the waiting chair.

 

“That bad, huh?” Sam asked.

 

Steve didn’t say anything, just buried himself in Sam’s arms and tried not to throw up.

 

Bucky was alive. Peter had been unable to sleep and gone for a swing around the city, intending to park himself in front of their TV and join them for breakfast now they were back in the city. He’d caught Bucky ten floors from the ground. The soldier had a few broken bones, but he’d live, which was what was important.

 

Currently, they had him in the secure room they had set aside for Hulk getting out of control. Bruce and Simmons had set up medical equipment they needed and had flown in a whole battery of therapists of all disciplines.

 

Bucky had been fine 24 hours ago. Once they got back from retrieving Howard, he’d spent the afternoon playing with the kids, feeding them snacks and making them giggle. After dinner, after the little ones were asleep, he and Steve had crashed on the couch, watching a stupid horror flick, eating popcorn and drinking a few beers.

 

How had he crashed so fast?

 

“He won’t talk,” Steve said eventually. “He just sits there, staring off into space. I’ve…I’ve never seen him like this. I thought…when his ma died, it was bad. He didn’t say anything for a week. I thought that was bad. When he turned up here, he was so broken, so afraid. But this…I don’t know how to help him. I don’t even know what did this!”

 

He lurched to his feet and paced, glancing through the glass at his friend.

 

Bucky was sitting on the edge of the bed in a white tank and lounge pants. He had an assortment of plasters from where he was healing. Peter’s webbing had cut into him and snapped a few bones, but he was healing nicely. He gazed out at the room blankly, completely passive and docile. He let them move him this way and that, and do whatever they needed to do without so much as a blink in their direction.

 

Wherever his mind was, he was far away, and Steve didn’t know how to reach him.

 

“Hey,” Phil said as he joined them. “How’s he doing?”

 

“We’re still waiting for their assessment,” Sam said, a look to Phil saying everything he didn’t. It was bad and they didn’t know why.

 

“Everyone’s having breakfast. Tony sent us all messages, updating us on what happened. Sabrina…we didn’t think we should say anything.”

 

“Has she asked for him?” Steve asked.

 

“Yes. We told her he was sleeping and would join us later.”

 

“Probably best,” Sam agreed. “Not truly a lie. It is kind of sleep. Sort of.”

 

“I don’t understand what happened,” Steve said. “JARVIS didn’t see what happened, he doesn’t know what set him off. Bucky chose when JARVIS was doing maintenance to do…whatever it is. Internal cameras were cycling, so JARVIS didn’t see what he did.” He speared his fingers through his hair. “He was fine last night! How did he go from that to this, and so damn fast?”

 

“We’ll figure it out,” Phil promised.

 

He sat down with them to wait, and all the while, Bucky stared on.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Clint took the kids to the park, getting them out of the house and the possibility of hearing something they didn’t know how to explain. JARVIS went with him to keep him connected, and Thor, because he couldn’t bear the sorrow that snaked through the tower.

 

Annie settled Gabby down for her nap. It had been 19 hours and still nothing from Bucky. They had taken to telling Sabrina that he had gone out, gone looking for this or that. Thor , Jane and Darcy were making things appear so she was none the wiser.

 

A four year old didn’t need to know that daddy tried to kill himself.

 

Dinner was next on the agenda, and Annie knew a home cooked meal would go down better than anything they could order. She wanted to make a big roast, something elaborate and filling, and wondered if there was a joint in the freezer she could thaw in time. She toyed with Gabby’s hair as she ran through her mental inventory.

 

“She sleeping?” Bruce asked from the doorway.

 

“Yeah, out like a light. I must be calmer than I thought. I thought for sure she’d fight it.”

 

“Ah, kids are tougher than we give them credit for.” He wound his arms around her waist. “How long do you think she’ll be down for?”

 

“Oh, at least an hour, maybe two. Why?”

 

He ducked his head, pressing his lips to her neck and she knew exactly why he was asking. And suddenly, she wanted it. Wanted to lose herself in the feeling, the physical, silence her brain, just for a few minutes if that’s all she could get.

 

She turned in his arms and joined their mouths, backing him to the door. He willingly fell onto the bed and watched as she closed the door to the nursery and the one to the lounge.

 

“We don’t have to,” he said. “There’s no rush.”

 

“I want it,” she demanded, crawling up to straddle him. “I want you.”

 

“Okay then.”

 

It was like a battle, but not a war. They pushed against each other, each trying to find where they fit, how this worked. Teeth clashed and they gripped too hard, until all in one moment they came together and found a flow that worked. The subtle give and take, the push and pull. Their clothes ended up shredded under desperate hands and soon they found enough skin to satisfy their starving appetites.

 

He groaned as her mouth closed around him, wet heat teasing his nerves. Hulk grumbled in the back of his head an curled away, hiding from intimacy he didn’t understand.

 

Her hair was silky and thick between his fingers, and she was so warm and willing. He tangled his fingers more firmly and tugged until she pulled off, looking at him.

 

“Come here,” he begged and she crawled up, letting him join their mouths.

 

He laid her on her back and let his hands roam. He cupped a breast, stroked a nipple until she whimpered against his lips, let her arch and rub against his thigh.

 

“Please,” she whimpered. “Please.”

 

“What do you need?” He sucked a nice dark hickey on her throat, squeezing her breast and thumbing a nipple until she moaned. “Tell me. What do you want? My mouth? Hmmm?”

 

He began to move down, his lips kissing a trail down her skin, teeth scraping against her until now untouched nipple and making her jerk in surprise.

 

“No, not that,” she moaned, fingers carding through his curls, nails scratching at the back of his neck and shoulders. “Please. Bruce. Fuck me.”

 

He moaned, forehead pressed to her sternum as he talked himself down from the edge.

 

Eventually, he could move, and he surged up to kiss her, reaching down to touch her. He stroked her, expecting to have to work for it, but she was already wet, waiting for something to fill her. He wondered idly, as he reached for a condom, if it was the serum at work or that she was so turned on.

 

“Thinking later, action now,” she murmured, reaching for the little foil square and ripping it open. She wasted no time in rolling it onto him, before gripping his hip and urging him closer.

 

“You’re incredible,” he breathed as he sank into her, “Oh, god.”

 

She let out a high pitched sigh, a tightening of her fingers on his shoulders, and then she shifted her hips and he sank a little deeper.

 

“Okay?” he whispered against her lips.

 

“Okay,” she replied, kissing him and shifting beneath him.

 

And then they both stopped thinking, and surrendered to it.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Steve didn’t want to be in the gym. He wanted to be getting Bucky to talk, or playing with Sarah, or making out with Tony or Loki or both.

 

He didn’t want to be helping Annie with her workout.

 

“I called Natasha,” he said as she stretched.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Feet wider. Yeah. But Phil said if she’s deep in she won’t answer. Left a message.”

 

“She’ll call when she can,” she said, sitting on the floor and putting her soles together. “Look, I know you don’t want to do this. But the last thing I need is to put my back out or break something. Just make sure I don’t do anything stupid.”

 

“This is stupid,” he muttered, sitting opposite her.

 

“This is necessary,” she countered. “I can’t stay unprotected.”

 

“We protect you.”

 

“And if you’re on a mission?” He didn’t have an answer for that. “Steve, I’m literally the only one in the Tower without any training. Howard kept me helpless, and Hydra took me. I’ve stayed helpless and look how that’s worked out. I’m not looking to go to war, or do a Clint and throw myself off a building.”

 

“I resent that,” Clint called as he entered.

 

“It’s accurate though,” Steve said with a smile.

 

“Maybe. What’s going on in here?”

 

“Workout,” Annie said. “Natasha worked out a programme for me and I’m sticking to it.”

 

“Oh yeah, the whole defensive thing. She said. I thought he was against it,” he said as he wrapped his hands, nodding at Steve.

 

“He is, but Bucky’s not available.”

 

“Gotcha.”

 

Steve didn’t argue as he spotted her through it. It wasn’t what he’d assumed. There were no thighs around his neck, no wild flips, no punches or kicks. It was stretches and running and flexibility training.

 

Natasha had been teaching her to evade rather than defend.

 

“That comes later,” she said as he helped her out of a backwards bend. “She says when I’m able to get out of a full body bind, then comes something more offensive.”

 

“Yeah, I’m not going to be here for that,” he complained. “Let’s try the block again. You almost had it.”

 

***

 

Annie had noticed him all through her workout, and even now, after her shower, Peter was still lingering at the top of the climbing wall.

 

It reminded her of Bucky. It’s his spot, after all.

 

She stood there staring at him until he took a flying leap and somersaulted down to the ground.

 

“Impressive,” she said. “Don’t you get motion sick doing that?”

 

“No.”

 

She motioned him over to the boxing ring and they settled in the middle.

 

“I want to thank you,” she said. “For what you did. For saving him.”

 

“It wasn’t anything,” he mumbled, embarrassed.

 

“Not, it was. It was important, what you did. There’s a little girl upstairs who still has her daddy because of what you did. Peter, the lives you save are important.”

 

“He wasn’t happy,” he said, resting his chin on his knee. “He kept talking, complaining. Saying all kinds of stuff.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“That he was sorry, that it was his fault. He made a mistake and he was sorry. I…I don’t know what upset him, but he kept saying it was wrong. Kept saying she wasn’t supposed to be there. That he didn’t know, that he wouldn’t have if he’d known. Said she wasn’t supposed to be there, over and over.”

 

“She? Did he say who she was?”

 

“No. Just kept saying she wasn’t supposed to be there. It was…it was so sad, the way he sounded. It was like…like he was in pain,” he admitted.

 

“Is this the first time you’ve spent some time with someone suicidal?” she asked gently. When he nodded, she urged him to lay down with his head in her lap, stroking his hair. “It’s tough, huh? I remember, some of the POW’s. They were…I remember. It’s hard to listen to, even harder to really understand that you can’t help them. The pain Bucky is in…it’s his pain, in his head, and however much we want to, we can’t really help him with it. We can just be there. And catch him.”

 

“I did that one.”

 

“You did, and I am so so thankful to you for that. Peter, you saved him. Thank you so much.”

 

He blushed and squirmed, and it was in that moment her brain put together what Bucky had been talking about.

 

She knew exactly what had set Bucky off, and who was to blame.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Phil hauled himself out of bed and padded out of the room, careful not to wake Clint.

 

It wasn’t easy to keep him asleep when Phil got up. He tended to be a light sleeper, waking at the slightest noise, forever floating on the edge of wakefulness. The trick, which had taken Phil an embarrassingly long time to really master, was not to tiptoe. If he walked normally, Clint would sleep through him. If he tried to creep, tried to stay quiet, Clint would feel something was wrong and wake. But if he walked normally, Clint’s subconscious classed it as him getting up to pee or make coffee.

 

He shuffled out into the hallway and paused, listening for what woke him. He didn’t have to wait long until a flicker of Sabrina’s light alerted him, and he headed that way.

 

“Hey, baby,” he murmured as he entered the room, finding her lingering in the middle of the rug. “What are you doing up?”

 

“Had to pee,” she said, reaching for him.

 

He scooped her up and cuddled her close, laying down on her bed and holding her close, tucking her blanket around her. He and Clint had both spritzed their deodorant’s on it, just enough that it would smell like them, and it helped her to settle, to know she was safe at home.

 

“Did you have fun with Daddy at the park?”

 

“Went on the swings,” she said, fiddling with the embroidered S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on his t-shirt.

 

“Did you understand what Daddy was talking to you about?”

 

“Sometimes he has to go help people,” she said. “Sometimes he has to go fast. He always wants to say goodbye, but not have time.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Daddy? What happen to Daddy Bucky?”

 

“What do you mean, baby?”

 

“Steve and Mommy sad, hear them talking about Daddy. They says he’s ‘catatonic’. What that mean?”

 

“Sabrina, where you listening in on grownup conversations again?” he asked gently.

 

“Didn’t mean to.”

 

He sighed and stroked her hair. “Catatonic is…Well, it’s kind of hard to explain. It’s like…it’s like something in Bucky’s head has just…sort of…stopped. Like when China runs out of battery. And we’re not sure why it happened.”

 

“Where is he?”

 

“He’s in one of the medical rooms,” he admitted. “And Bruce and some other nice doctors are trying to help him.”

 

“Good doctors, like Bruce?”

 

“Only good ones. Me and Steve and Bruce checked them all out, and JARVIS. Only good doctors here.”

 

She hummed and he let her be, let her work through her thoughts.

 

“Is that why Peter sad?”

 

“Yeah, it is. He’s worried about Daddy too. We all are. But we’re going to do everything we can to make him better.”

 

“I see him?”

 

“Not right now, but when he’s a little bit better you can. Deal?”

 

“Deal,” she said sleepily, drunkenly hooking her tiny pinkie with his.

 

It was something she’d seen in a movie, and it made sense to her. If you made a promise, you linked pinkies, or it didn’t count. You had to have the fingers involved or it wasn’t real. It was something solid, something physical she could see that made more sense to her than just words.

 

Eventually she drifted off and he tucked her in, checking on Kiddo before he returned to bed. Clint immediately rolled into his arms, nose buried in his neck.

 

“She ‘kay?”

 

“Yeah. She had to pee and then had questions. Steve and Annie were overheard.”

 

“Shit.”

 

“She’s okay. She just had a few questions, trying to understand. I think she’s good. Might have more questions, heads up.”

 

“Noted. Sleep now?”

 

“Yes, honey. Sleep now.”

 

Clint let out a sleepy hum and a wiggle and then fell back into dreams.

 

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Howard awoke to the dark of his room, and marvelled at how bright all the medical stuff made it. It was still obviously night, even if he didn’t have a window to see. The staff were slower, more sleepy, the atmosphere calmer.

 

He had taken a sip of water before he realised he wasn’t alone.

 

“How long have you been there?” he asked.

 

“Not long,” Annie replied. “I was trying to figure out what to say.”

 

“I was beginning to think you’d all forgotten about me. No visitors all day, makes a guy worry.”

 

“We’ve been busy,” she said, standing and moving to his chart. “Good fluid intake. You’re doing better.”

 

“Busy? You were busy? Too busy for one of you to come down here? Too busy to poke a head around the door?” he asked incredulously, squirming upright in the bed.

 

“Bucky throwing himself off the penthouse balcony counts, don’t you think?”

 

“What? He did what?”

 

“He tried to kill himself. We have a friend, Peter. He caught him. He has a few broken bones, but physically he’ll be fine. He is, however, catatonic. And none of us could figure out why. Until Peter told me what Bucky was mumbling when he caught him.”

 

“I don’t follow.”

 

“Let me tell you a story,” she said, spinning to face him suddenly. “It’s a story about a little girl. She was born in a run down shack in New York almost 100 years ago. And though she started off in a shack, soon enough, her big brother had taken her away from the evil king, and they lived in a wonderful land of parties and pretty dresses. Until one day the great leviathan rose up and sent out its soldiers. War broke out across the land.”

 

He watched as she told the story, remembering himself. He remembered his mother’s body, and the tiny bodies of his brothers. He remembered the way she had cried each night once they’d gotten away. She had complained of the silence.

 

“During the war, an evil wizard stole the girl away, never to be seen again. You would think that was the end, wouldn’t you?”

 

“It isn’t?”

 

“No. Because the wizard transformed her, stretched her life out into decades of pain and suffering.”

 

“Annie, stop it. Just tell me what the hell they did to you.”

 

“They broke me. They unmade me and took all I was and erased it. I know what my own flesh burning smells like, I’ve seen my own intestines and liver and ribs. They cut and hacked and tinkered away until I prayed that one day they’d let me die. But they didn’t. They stuck me in a freezer when they were done and took me out when it was time to play again. I watched as they tore me apart, piece by piece, and timed how long it took for them to grow back. I’ve been skinned and shot, cut up and carved apart and still I’m here. But that’s not the worst they did.”

 

She paused while he threw up.

 

“How is that not the worst?” he asked once he stopped heaving.

 

“The worst is, it wasn’t just me they hurt,” she said, wandering to the wall to look at one of the paintings. “They hurt Bucky too. 70 years of brainwashing and torture, of being made into a shell they could fill with their particular brand of evil and use as a spear. And the children. Did you know that? Did anyone tell you? Hydra made them.”

 

“The fuck?”

 

“Mmm-hmm. Sabrina, she’s the oldest. She’s about four but we don’t really know. And Kiddo, he’s two. We gave him Halloween as his birthday, but we can’t be sure. We can’t be sure and we don’t know because until they came to us, they’d never left the labs where they were made. They took my eggs and made them. Sabrina is Bucky’s daughter. Well, technically, she’s my clone but they messed with her DNA, added in his, so she’s ours. And Kiddo, he’s Steve’s son. He’s a little more traditionally made, but not by much. There were more. Lots more. Hundreds. But Hydra disposed of them. They weren’t what they wanted. Those two are the only two left of almost 500 children.”

 

He held up his hand for a pause and she did, leaning against the end of the bed until he was sure his stomach was empty.

 

“I don’t raise them. I mean, Sabrina calls me Mommy, and they know who I am, but I’m not raising them. Peggy’s son, Phil and his husband Clint are raising them. I couldn’t. I look at them and see what was done and I…I just can’t.” She smiled to herself. “I do raise Gabrielle. When Phil found me, I was pregnant with her. She was a new method they were trying. She’s Thor’s daughter. He’s a big blond guy, great big hammer, shoots lightning. Kind of like a Golden Retriever really, very sweet guy. She’s my little stowaway.”

 

“I don’t see what this has to do with what Bucky did,” he rasped. “I don’t follow how this conversation got here.”

 

“Bucky came to see you last night, didn’t he.”

 

It wasn’t a question.

 

“Sure, Barnes was here,” he said.

 

“And you had a go at him. You blame him for Maria. He was muttering how sorry he is, how much of a mistake it was, that she wasn’t supposed to be there, and we couldn’t work it out until I remembered Tony telling me about his mother. She wasn’t shot or stabbed, she died in the crash from the trauma. She was an accident. But that’s how I know what triggered Bucky. And now I’m here. Did you blame him? Did you tell him it was his fault?”

 

“Yes, I did, because it is! He pulled that trigger! He put that bullet in my gut, after he blew out the tire, he is to blame,” he argued.

 

“He was the bullet, not the gun,” she hissed. “They sent a few thousand volts through his head until he couldn’t think. They brainwashed him until he was nothing but a husk they could use. And then they aimed him at anyone they thought needed to meet ugly death.”

 

“He killed me!”

 

“And you think he had any kind of choice? You think they left him with any shred of free will? You were their prisoner, their lab rat, you saw first-hand what they’re capable of doing, what they’re willing to do. And you still did that? You still said that to him?”

 

“He gave in,” he spat. “He gave in to them. I’m not coddling someone that weak.”

 

“I can’t do this,” she said sadly. “I can’t talk to you anymore. I’m going now. I won’t come back.”

 

“What? Annie, what the hell? Come back.”

 

She paused at the door. “Goodbye, Howard.”

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

“Annie, it’s late,” Steve argued. “They already got him ready for bed.”

 

She rounded on him, and he almost tripped over her in his haste to stop.

 

“You want me to fix him or not?”

 

“Yes, but-”

 

“You want him to be okay?”

 

“Yes…”

 

“Then shut up and back off.”

 

He did shut up and trailed after her to Bucky’s room. The nurses had gotten him into pyjamas and brushed his teeth for him but he was still sitting where he had been all day. He’d drink if you held the cup to his mouth and he’d eat if you fed him, but he’d still not moved on his own. He just stared at the wall. Every now and then tears would trickle down his face.

 

She strode in and Steve motioned the nurses out. Then he parked himself in front of the observation window.

 

“JARVIS?”

 

“Yes, Steve?”

 

“Record this.”

 

“Very good.”

 

Annie walked up to Bucky and climbed on his lap, straddling him. It wasn’t sexual, it was so she could get right in his face and make him listen.

 

“Listen to me, Barnes,” she demanded, turning his head and looking him in the eye. “I know what happened, I know you went to see Howard, and I know what he said to you. And I know something else too. It’s a steaming pile of shit. You had no choice, none. I know this, I know this in every fibre of my being. You are not the Winter Soldier. You are not the monster. You are not responsible for what they made of you, for what they created, for what they did with it.”

 

He began to cry again, unable to look away from her. His one hand was trembling, and it took Steve a moment to realise that all of him was trembling with the effort it took him not to break down completely.

 

“Bucky, do you want to know how I’m so sure of you?” She wiped away some of his tears. “Because Sabrina is still alive.”

 

It shocked him enough that he reared back, his mouth falling open.

 

“You love her so much there isn’t a limit for it. And you were there in that Siberian hellhole, you saw what they did to her. And I know that if you had any choice, and any kind of free will, you’d have put a bullet in her brain. You’d rather her dead than suffering. I know it in every piece of me because it’s exactly how I feel when I look at her, when I look at either of them. I see Kiddo and Sabrina and I would rather kill them than let Hydra hurt them.”

 

She stroked his hair.

 

“I love her, more than I could ever say, and I would do that. So I know that you had no choice in what they made you do. Because if you had had any choice, _any!_ Sabrina would be dead.” She wrapped her arms around him, stroking his hair. “You’d rather her dead than suffering.”

 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

 

“I know.”

 

“She wasn’t supposed to be there.” He moaned, low and pained, wrapping his arms around her ribs and holding on tight. Steve was sure that if she hadn’t been enhanced, he’d have crushed her.

 

“It wasn’t your fault,” she whispered.

 

She kept repeating it over and over, just letting him hold her until he could breathe again, until he could close his eyes, until he could sleep.

 

She tucked him into bed and walked calmly from the room before her knees gave way. Steve caught her before she hit the floor.

 

“He needs to see Sabrina at some point,” she whispered eventually, when the worst of her shaking had eased. “He needs reminding.”

 

“Sure thing. What do you need?”

 

“I need to hold my baby.”

 

He scooped her up and carried her to her room, where Bruce was sitting up in bed, holding Gabby, fastening the bib around her neck.

 

“Perfect timing,” he said at Steve’s look. He’d ask later, when Annie looked less devastated. For the moment he handed the baby to her and sat back, shaking the bottle as she settled.

 

“Hi, beautiful,” she murmured as Steve hovered. The tiny girl reached up and grabbed a fistful of her mothers hair, waving it in delight and cooing up at her. “Mommy missed you. Love you, baby. I love you so much, my little stowaway.”

 

Bruce guided the bottle to her hand and she set to feeding her. Eventually, Steve sensed that he wasn’t needed to keep her steady, so he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and padded from the room.

 

“Want to talk about it?” Bruce asked eventually, as she put the bottle aside.

 

She shook her head and sat Gabby on her knee to wind her. He sat back and watched. Annie had so much love to give, and she was so devoted to those she did love. It hurt him to know people hadn’t been able to see that.

 

That Howard couldn’t see that.

 

The things Howard had babbled about as Bruce and the others worked on him were things that made Hulk strain at the seams. It had taken about an hour in the Hulk playroom to calm him down enough to recede. Hulk usually loved the playroom. It was filled with breeze blocks and pieces of metal from construction and even a few cars Tony had cannibalised for parts. And when Hulk was done smashing, there were always snacks and cartoons.

 

More than once Bruce had woken up there, warm and safe, cushioned by about a million pillows and beanbags, swaddled in blankets. There were soft clothes waiting for him, and someone always appeared as he finished getting dressed.

 

Howard had apparently made the assumption that Annie and Tony were nowhere near his brilliance, that somehow they were weak things that needed him as their hard shell. To Howard, Tony was a weak selfish child who cared for no one and nothing outside of his ‘toys’. To Howard, Annie was a child, a weak female who couldn’t keep up with the men.

 

He was so wrong, it made Bruce want to hit him. Bruce, not Hulk.

 

Strangely, it was Hulk that wouldn’t let him hit Howard. The green giant kept grumbling about him being Annie’s brother, that it would make her sad if Bruce did hit him.

 

He never thought he’d see the day Hulk calmed him down.

 

Annie eventually laid a sleeping Gabby between them and curled around her, tracing her features with careful touches, stroking her dark curls. It hadn’t been curly when she was born, but it had soon grown that way. Kiddo’s was curly too, but Sabrina’s was straight, like Annie’s. Tony’s was curly, when he let it get long enough.

 

Bruce laid down with them and swept Annie’s own long dark locks away from her face.

 

“You are my sunshine,” he sang softly. “My only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are grey. You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.”

 

He never sang the next line. He couldn’t bear to think of anyone taking either Annie or Gabrielle from him.

 

“I wish he’d never come back,” she whispered into the dark. “I wish he’d stayed dead and I hate myself for it.”

 

“No, no, no. Don’t hate yourself for it. He said some things, some terrible things, and what you’re feeling is a reaction to those things. And it’s perfectly natural for you to feel what you feel.”

 

“He’s my brother.”

 

“He’s an asshole.”

 

It startled a laugh out of her, one that she smothered with a hand so she didn’t wake the baby. She curled in on herself and he delighted in watching her laugh so hard no sound came out.

 

Eventually, she let him transfer Gabby to her cradle, and he indulged himself in carefully tucking her in, watching her sleep. Then he returned to bed and pulled Annie close.

 

“This is a weird situation, and Howard isn’t helping anything,” he said firmly, but quiet so he didn’t wake the baby. “I think he’s stuck. He’s missed more than two decades and hasn’t caught up with the way things are now. He’s said things, horrible things, but it’s only because he doesn’t understand how things have changed.”

 

“You really believe that? That he can understand?”

 

“I want to,” he sighed. “I really want to.”

 

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Loki was learning to recognise when something was really bothering Tony. Steve was harder, he kept things more under wraps and he supposed that that was what made him such a good Alpha.

 

But Tony had tells, and Loki was learning them.

 

Loki left Sarah with Jane and Thor and headed down to the workshop, where Tony had disappeared just after breakfast.

 

How Steve got him to actually attend the meal and eat something was a whole different level of skill, one that Loki one day hoped Steve would teach him.

 

“Tony,” Loki said after almost ten minutes of waiting to be noticed. The bots had come to say hello at least. “Tony!”

 

“Wha?”

 

He looked completely befuddled, as if he couldn’t understand why Loki was there.

 

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last ten minutes.”

 

“Sorry, babe. What’s up?”

 

“Lunch.”

 

Tony dove on the sandwich like a starving man, his eyes darting over blue holographic screens as he chewed. He blinked in confusion as his hand hit an empty plate, and he drained the glass of juice before returning to his screens.

 

“Tony,” Loki cooed, draping himself over his back and nipping at his ear, nuzzling behind it.

 

“Hmmm? Oh. Hi there.”

 

“Pay attention, my brilliant genius,” he complained teasingly, his fingers creeping beneath the t-shirt to tickle along his belly.

 

“Attention, right. I can do that.”

 

Tony was unresisting as Loki guided him to stand, and then the alien spent a good long while attached at the mouth. Tony surrendered to it, letting instinct and desire lead him, his tongue slipping into Loki’s mouth, his teeth nipping at a plump lower lip.

 

“Mmmm. Do I have your attention now?” Loki purred, herding Tony backwards to his couch. Many an afternoon had Loki spent curled up on it with a good book or having a nap.

 

“All my attention,” he agreed. “Every last bit. I’m attentive.”

 

“Good.” He pushed him to sit and climbed on his lap, joining their mouths once more as Tony gripped his hips and squeezed his bum.

 

“Hey! I’m paying attention here!” Tony complained as Loki slid off his lap. He gave a gentle smile as he slid to his knees. “Oh. Oh, I get it. Never mind. Carry on.”

 

Loki chuckled to himself and flicked the button of his jeans, slowly pulling down the zipper, making sure to press against the growing bulge.

 

It was something they’d noticed, and embraced. Loki took far longer than Tony or Steve to reach arousal. It took time for the heat to build, for his body to catch up with his thoughts. So he was perfectly content to give oral or manual stimulation, to get them off, and not receive anything in return. When he was in the mood, when his body did react to things, he was always pleasured by his mates.

 

He’d expected it to be a battle, to be some kind of exchange with his partner keeping score and expecting reciprocation all the time. He’d always been told by his tutors that it was a woman’s place to accommodate her husband, to submit to his desires and put her own second. When Loki had realised he was supposed to take the place of the wife, he simply assumed his childhood teachers lessons to apply to him in that way.

 

His mother, when she found out what had been taught, swiftly dismissed the tutors and set about educating her sons in the ‘proper way’, that physical pleasure was a mutual enjoyment. All Loki really remembered from Frigga’s lessons was being absolutely mortified.

 

But Tony and Steve had taught him that pleasure had no rules, that it was up to them to decide how to enjoy each other’s bodies, it was their pleasure to give and take as they wanted.

 

All of them loved to give, and the receiving was pretty damn good too.

 

Loki spent long minutes stroking his dark haired mate, listening to him gasp and whimper, and a particular kind of grunt when Loki tugged at his balls.

 

He enjoyed watching his mates enjoy themselves, watching them take the pleasure offered. And he liked the feel of their skin beneath his fingers, and against his own. The sounds they made were delicious, as was the taste of them in his mouth.

 

“Please,” Tony whined. “Please.”

 

He smiled to himself before taking a breath and swallowing Tony as far as he could. Predictably, the engineer arched off the sofa, only connected by his shoulders and his feet on the floor. Loki had anticipated it and moved accordingly, keeping Tony in his mouth but moving so he didn’t choke. He had before and he didn’t enjoy it. He knew Tony didn’t mean to choke him, his body just took over sometimes.

 

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. Oh…my…holy…fucking…god!” he gasped.

 

Loki bobbed his head as he sucked, tongue tracing the underside while his hands crept up, stroking over his nipples and scars, feeling Tony grip at his wrists painfully tight before the tight taught rope of tension snapped and he came. Loki took all he offered and held it in his mouth, waiting until Tony slumped back before calmly moving to the sink and spitting it out, rinsing before he returned.

 

Tony nuzzled his neck as he cuddled him close. He almost hoped no one came looking for them because his softening cock was hanging out. It would be painfully obvious to anyone walking in what they had just been up to, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care.

 

“You know, you can pull away,” Tony mumbled eventually, Loki’s fingers carding through his hair.

 

“I don’t want to,” he said simply. “I like letting you release into my mouth. I simply do not enjoy swallowing it.”

 

“Ah. Sure?”

 

“Very.”

 

“’Kay then.” He tangled his fingers in Loki’s hair and pulled him in for a kiss. “You want?”

 

“Mmmm, no, not right now. Later.”

 

“Remind me?”

 

“I’ll let you know when I want your attentions,” Loki assured and Tony hummed contentedly.

 

They lay like that for a while before Loki tenderly tucked him away and they sat together on the couch drinking smoothies Dummy brought them.

 

“He’s wrong,” Loki said when he was sure Tony was ready to listen.

 

“Who?”

 

“Howard. The things he’s said of you. He’s wrong.”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” he brushed off, squirming in embarrassment.

 

“It does!” he demanded, voice raising in a way that surprised Tony. Loki rarely yelled. “It does matter! That he dare pass judgement on you when his own track record is so dreadfully abysmal is ridiculous!”

 

“He’s allowed an opinion. Baby, it’s not a big deal.”

 

“It is to me,” he said firmly, setting down his cup so he could climb once again into Tony’s lap. “It’s a big fucking deal to me.”

 

“It’s not a lie,” Tony said softly. “The things he’s said, the ‘incidents’. They did happen. Lokes, I was like that.”

 

“But you are not now. He is judging you by who you were, and that holds no bearing on who you are now. The man you are now is far superior, and I won’t have him disparaging it. You worked hard to become this man. And I love this man.” He traced the circle of the reactor. “This man saves people. This man loves so fiercely and openly. This man is an incredible being, and I am privileged to get to love you, to be loved by you, you have a child with you. Tony, I have seen you play Peek-a-Boo with Sarah for almost two hours because she wanted to. You have walked the floors with her at night simply because you couldn’t bear to put her down.”

 

“I figure it’s stuff a good dad does, you know. Human Jarvis used to, when I was a kid,” Tony said. “Stuff you do for your kid to show you love them.”

 

“Just so. Tony, you could have bankrupted yourself declaring that Stark Industries would no longer make weapons. But you did it anyway because it was the right thing. You have almost died countless times, because it was the right thing. You are not, I repeat, NOT a selfish child, you are not a man that cares for nothing and no one.”

 

He leaned in and kissed him, kissing between each word.

 

“You. Are. A. Hero.”

 

“You are biased.”

 

“I am one who has tried to destroy the world and been redeemed by your love. I know what I’m talking about,” he said, stroking his hair. “Please. Tony. Listen to me. You’re so much better than he knows.”

 

“What if he’s right?” Tony whispered. “What if it’s still there, under all those good things? That selfish wasted playboy.”

 

“It might very well be, but the good things are stronger. Your choices make you, your choices define you. You’ve chosen your path and he doesn’t get to take it from you.”

 

Tony curled his arms around him and pulled him close, burying his face in Loki’s neck, taking in the scent of him.

 

Maybe Tony didn’t believe in himself, and maybe Howard would prove right in the end.

 

But Loki believed in him.

 

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Once Sabrina was settled playing with Bucky and Kiddo, Clint watching over them, Phil made his way up six floors.

 

“Hey, boss man,” Darcy said. For some reason, unfathomable to him, she had parked herself in the waiting room to Howard’s room

 

He took in the laptop and papers and raised an eyebrow.

 

“I’m kind of afraid to ask why you’re working here when you have a perfectly good bedroom.” He smirked. “We have better bathrooms than this.”

 

“No one comes here right now, so I can power through the paperwork without getting distracted,” she said.

 

“Makes perfect sense. I take it that no one’s come to visit?”

 

“No, not for the last four hours or so. Why? You goin’ in?”

 

“Thinking about it.”

 

He sat down next to her and rested his head in his hands.

 

“Did you hear? What set Bucky off?”

 

“Yeah. Steve made sure we all saw the recording,” she said, closing her laptop. “Thor broke another fridge.”

 

“Damn. Maybe we should buy shares in the company.”

 

“Tony’s design.”

 

“Is there anything in this Tower that isn’t? Forget it, rhetorical. I have to go in there. I have to talk to him, show him these files.” He motioned to the pile he held, the tabs showing names like Tony Stark, Annabelle Stark, James Barnes, the numbers for the kids. It made Phil feel sick to see those numbers once more. He hated that they referred to his children. “I think I’d rather be shishkabobed again.”

 

“I can do it if it helps,” she offered, and for a crazy second he actually considered it.

 

“No. I promised Tony I would, and I’m going to. I just…really don’t want to.”

 

“Have courage man! The hurt cannot be much!”

 

He smiled and shook his head at her own brand of crazy. It never failed to make him smile despite himself. Honestly. Shakespeare.

 

He took a deep breath and determinedly strode to the door. She saluted him as he went in.

 

“Hello, Mr Stark. My name is Phil Coulson,” he said, almost calling himself Agent.

 

“I know who you are,” Howard said, pushing his table away with its uneaten meatloaf. That alone made Phil pissed. Jane had spent hours on it. She was so proud of it, it was the first edible one she’d made. “You’re Peggy’s boy.”

 

“I am. I’m also a friend of your son. He asked me to be the one to bring these, and stay while you read them.”

 

He handed over the files and took a seat, pulling out his phone so JARVIS could feed him the live coverage of the kids playing. He alternated between watching that and playing Candy Crush.

 

“Are…are these real?”

 

Howard actually looked like he might throw up. Again. Maybe they should think about getting him some antiemetics. Or just stop dumping horrific things on him.

 

Or just let him deal with it, like the rest of them had to.

 

“Yes, they’re real.”

 

“Are they true?”

 

“Very. I understand there are gaps but that is information that is yet unverified. You yourself will have a file similar to this as soon as we can confirm the validity of the sources. Do you have any questions about the material I have provided you with?”

 

Howard glanced down at his hands and caught sight of the picture at the front of Bucky’s file. It was the one from his Army days, when he was young and healthy and whole. And right next to it was a picture of him in the ice, blue and lifeless.

 

“Why have you shown me these?”

 

“So you can understand the severity of your actions, and the impact your words are having on those concerned. Because of your actions, the things you chose to say to Bucky, he tried to kill himself. Because of the things you said, Annie is refusing to come anywhere near you or even this floor. Because of you, Tony went on a two day bender in his workshop. On the plus, we now have a possibly sentient toaster and blender, but on the negative his daughter was incredibly distressed and went off her food. Your actions, no matter how small you think they are, have consequences, and those files are to try and impress those upon you. The people you belittle and blame have emotions and feelings and reactions to you.”

 

He stood and pocketed his phone.

 

“This is a family. Me and Tony and Annie and Bucky and Steve and a dozen others. And you have caused pain to that family. My daughter almost lost one of her parents because of your words to him. I had to explain to a four year old what it meant that her Daddy was catatonic. My four year old daughter, who loves nothing more than to hug those she loves, is having to be supervised to play with her Daddy because he keeps cutting out on us. You did that. You broke the longest held Prisoner Of War in the history of time. And you wonder why Annie won’t come near you.”

 

“He’s a POW? He’s…he’s really classed as that?”

 

“Yes, he is. And as such any actions he committed within the time of his captivity can in no way be attributed to him. The United States government has pardoned Sergeant James Buchannan Barnes of any and all crimes that may have been committed using his body whilst under the control and torture of Hydra. And you reduced him to throwing himself off the Penthouse balcony. I hope you’re proud of yourself, because my mother would be disgusted.”

 

He turned and walked out, past Darcy, past everything, because he knew if he stopped, he would go back and say worse, or just bypass words altogether and just kill him with the staples in the files.

 

As he walked out, Howard looked down at the pictures again, at the words he never wanted to ever be connected to any of them, and he realised how badly he had judged everything.

 

“Jesus fuck, what have I done?” he whispered.

 

He couldn’t ever put it right. He couldn’t fix this. For the first time in his life, he truly admitted to himself that he was as terrible as everyone had ever accused him of being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the well wishes. We're doing a bit better. The side effects seem to have calmed down somewhat, and I'm managing to get a little more sleep.
> 
> Please comment below and let me know what you thought of this chapter and what you would like to see coming up.


	5. Chapter Five

It was no secret that Bruce grew up poor. Not quite as dirt poor as Annie, but pretty hard up. It was his brain that got him into college on a full scholarship, and he was always thankful for the opportunity.

 

The problem was surviving through college.

 

He’s not ashamed to admit he became somewhat of a hippy in college. He and Betty and a group of others had rented a house together and created a sort of commune. Everything was shared, everyone did their part to keep the house running.

 

The one rule they all insisted upon was that everyone find some way to bring something into the house. It didn’t have to be money. If they had a green thumb, they worked the garden to grow them produce. If they were good with a needle, they took in repairs to be made.

 

And if, like Bruce, you were scientifically minded, you made soap.

 

It was, at its core, chemistry. And Bruce loved chemistry.

 

It was also fairly cheap once you’d shelled out for the initial setup. Oils in large quantity were cost effective if you made nice with your supplier, lye was plentiful in large bags, and herbs to add and fragrance oils to sweeten were miraculously always on hand in their house.

 

He made the soap, they kept a few bars for themselves, and he sold the rest, bringing in a pretty penny. He became known on campus as the Soap Guy.

 

He used a simple recipe of olive oil, supplied by Stanley Leiber, the pizza restaurant owner, and coconut oil, which he traded organic fruit for with a grocer just off campus.

 

As time went by, and his life changed, he continued to make his bars and sell them to get by. He’d made a very nice profit while living in India, though the curing process was slowed down a little by the heat.

 

Tony had almost laughed himself sick when Bruce had revealed that it was how he stayed calm so much. Hulk liked watching the process, the steps were always predictable, and it always smelled amazing. Plus he ended up with something useful at the end.

 

Once he’d stopped laughing, Tony had proceeded to buy him everything he needed to make soap once again. And the quality of the things Tony bought him was a whole new world. Silicone liners for hardwood moulds, expensive oils and micas for fragrance and colour, dried herbals and botanicals to add in. It was like candyland landed in his lab one day, and he was forever thankful to Tony.

 

The first time he’d made a loaf, he’d curled up in a ball and ugly cried. It was like coming home.

 

The tower no longer bought soap. The bathrooms held his bars, and a memo had gone around to all employees that the soap was not to be eaten no matter how much it smelled like something edible.

 

Bruce carefully poured in the lye water solution into his oils and set the bucket aside before starting up his stick blender and watching as they combined.

 

“Hey, what about coloured bears?” Annie asked. She was curled up on the sofa in his lab, sketching out the newest ideas for IntelliToys. The whole line looked to be a best seller. The original dolls had flown off the shelves during the initial limited release.

 

“What kind of colours?”

 

“Avengers colours,” she said with a smirk. “A little Hulk bear in a fetching shade of green.”

 

“And the Annie Stark Bear? What colour would that be?”

 

“A rainbow,” she said lightly.

 

“Of course,” he said, glancing over as the door slid open and Steve entered. “Hey, Steve. What colour would you make a Captain America IntelliBear? Red, white or blue?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I was thinking aloud,” she said. “For coloured bears. For the next release.”

 

“Oh, right. Blue. Iron Bear would be red.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Ann, can I talk to you?”

 

“Sure thing. About what?” she asked distractedly, sketching again.

 

“Howard.”

 

“I’m sorry, I don’t discuss idiots from the past unless they make the effort to adapt.”

 

“Annie, please.”

 

“Please what?” she said, capping her pen and snapping the sketchbook closed. “What about him, Rogers? That he dismisses everything about Tony? That he’s driven more than one nurse looking after him to want to shove an IV needle in his eye? How about…oh, I don’t know. He drove Bucky to suicide!”

 

“He’s your brother,” he said quietly. “And he’s sorry. Phil’s talked to him, showed him the files. He knows he screwed up.”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, standing. “He’s always sorry, Steve. And he still never learns.”

 

“He deserves the chance to change,” he argued. “He should be given the chance.”

 

“Steve, you look at him and you see your friend. I look at him and see all the ways I was never ever good enough.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“When he took me away from our father, he got me into a very swanky school. A week in, he got a call. He met with the teacher who told him I was making the boys uncomfortable. He yanked me out and took me home and sat me down and said, ‘no man wants to be made to look stupid by a woman’. He told me that I was never going to find a husband if I made every man feel inferior. I was five, and he told me I wasn’t good enough. He put me in boarding schools and private schools and Catholic schools and every time he had to pull me out. He hired nannies and security men that quit in a week. Steve, I wasn’t in that war zone because he chose to have me there. He had no choice, nowhere else to put me. And the whole time, every single time he opened his mouth, all I heard was how much of a terrible woman I was. He wanted me married off, someone to take me off his hands, and he didn’t care who it was. He just didn’t want me to be his problem.”

 

“That’s not true.”

 

“Steve, wake up. He is a selfish asshole who will never change. And the more you try to fix this, the more of us you’ll alienate.”

 

“I’m not asking you to forgive him,” he argued. “I’m just asking that you try to give him a chance.”

 

“How many does he get? Because by my count he’s had more than his share already.”

 

“Stop. Just stop.”

 

They turned to find Tony standing in the doorway, a bottle of formula in his hand. Gabby babbled at him from her little chair behind a screen to protect her.

 

“Tony…”

 

“No. Steve. No. We’re done talking about this. Stop pushing. I’m letting him stay, I think that’s more than enough to start with.”

 

Steve opened his mouth to argue some more and Bruce took pity on him.

 

“Steve,” he said. “Not the time.”

 

“But…”

 

“Just…just give them time. Do you realise that you’re trying to push a couple of Stark’s into doing what you want?”

 

“I know. I just…”

 

Bruce motioned him over and he slowly crossed the space as Tony went with Annie to her sofa. Tony picked up the sketchbook as she picked up her daughter.

 

“Look, I get it,” Bruce said, picking up his spatula and his jug of fragrance oils, swirling. “I want to try and make it better too. This tension isn’t good. But you can’t push them.”

 

Steve was quiet for a while, leaning against Bruce’s workbench and watching Tony and Annie together. They were talking over some of her sketches while she fed Gabby, Tony smiling and toying with little socked feet.

 

Suddenly, he was so very tired of fighting them. They were right, they were so very right.

 

“What the hell am I doing?” he whispered. “Shit. Oh, shit. Tony!”

 

His dark head snapped up and he was crossing the space between them in a moment.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” the blond said as Tony put his hands on his hips, thumbs stroking under his t-shirt. “What the fuck am I doing? After what he’s said about you? I’m supposed to be your partner, your lover, and I’m standing there and letting him talk shit about you?”

 

“Steve…”

 

“No. No. What have I been doing?” he babbled, beginning to pace, gesturing with his hands which Gabby found hilarious and abandoned her meal to giggle. “All the things he’s said. He took a bomb into a freaking church! And I’m still fucking defending him!”

 

He strode to Tony and cupped his face, pressing their foreheads together.

 

“I’m so so sorry. Oh, baby, I’m so sorry,” he whimpered.

 

“Hey, stop. Take a breath. This whole situation is complicated,” Tony soothed, running his hands over his sculpted chest. “This whole thing has gone badly, right from the start. Let’s…take a step back. Forget he’s here for a while, until we’re all calmer. Sound good?”

 

“Yeah, sounds good.”

 

“Forgive my interruption, but Master Loki is rather urgent in his desire for your presence,” JARVIS said, and they could practically hear his smile. “It is a rather momentous moment.”

 

The five of them raced to the elevator and shot up to the penthouse, where Loki was practically bouncing.

 

“Quick, quick!” he said in a whisper, barely able to contain his excitement. Tony and Steve joined him where he was kneeling on the floor and caught sight of what had him so animated.

 

Sarah was rolling around like a worm on the carpet, giggling to herself, and pausing on her front every few rolls to grin at her mother. Her smile only grew wider when she spotted her daddies and she squealed at them, reaching out a grabby hand.

 

Loki grabbed their arms as they made to move closer.

 

“Stop. Wait. Watch.”

 

They did as he demanded and soon enough, the tiny blonde had managed to lever herself up onto her hands and knees. She kneeled there for a moment, bouncing, before she struck out with a wobbly hand.

 

“Oh my God,” Steve said, breathless, a breath from tears.

 

“Come on, baby,” Loki called, reaching out and beckoning her closer. “That’s it. Come to Mommy!”

 

Her first few movements were unsteady, almost like a little drunk trying to navigate, and she did topple over. But then she got right back up and determinedly crawled across the floor, right into Loki’s arms.

 

Tony took advantage of Loki and everyone else being so distracted by Sarah to pull Steve in for a scorching kiss, possessing his mouth, robbing him of all ability to speak when he pulled back.

 

“Just be here with us. That’s all you need to do,” Tony instructed. “Focus on our family.”

 

“I almost missed this. I’m sorry. I’ll do better.”

 

“I’ll remind you.”

 

“I know you will. We promised we would, didn’t we? When she was born.” Steve linked his arms around Tony’s waist and rubbed their noses together. “We promised to remind each other not to miss her moments. That she and Loki would have better.”

 

“You reminded?”

 

“Yeah, I got the message.”

 

“Good. Now we go fuss.” He walked backwards towards Loki. “Our baby crawled!”

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Nick walked into his office and sighed.

 

“I feel like I should be some sort of surprised that you’re in here unnoticed, but I’m really not,” he said and she smiled at him.

 

“JARVIS,” Annie said as if it were all the explanation needed, and it actually was. That and she was a Stark.

 

“I don’t know why I try to keep either of you out. Last time I let Tony anywhere near me, he hacked my systems and had my phone play Nick Knack Paddy Whack every ten minutes. I had to replace the damn thing.”

 

“You too? He did that to Logan.”

 

“And now I don’t feel special. Not that I’m not impressed by your ability to show up an international spy organisation, but A) you’re in my chair, and B) I’m almost afraid of why you’re here.”

 

She grinned at him and he didn’t like it one little bit.

 

“You know, it took me a while,” she said, toying with his pen. “I heard them talk about you, and I just left it at that. And then I got JARVIS to actually show me who they were talking about. Steve hasn’t even realised who you are, has he?”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

 

“When did you switch out the bandage for a patch?”

 

He knew right then that he needn’t bother trying to fool her.

 

“Nice to see you again, Nicky. I’m guessing that Steve has no clue,” she said.

 

“None. He doesn’t realise.”

 

“I’m actually curious as to how old you are now.”

 

“Ninety two.”

 

“Looking good for a nonagenarian.”

 

“Pot and kettle.”

 

“Oh, I know I look good for my age. I also know I look this good because of Hydra. I do wonder how you look so good for yours.”

 

He remembered the day he’d first met her. He’d been on the base in the mess taking shit from some asshole about being coloured when said asshole suddenly dropped his tray and clutched his ear, which had a pencil sticking out of it. Annie had been sitting at a table with Phillips, crumpling the rubber bands from her improv slingshot.

 

Phillips had told the asshole to see the nurse and Nick to sit down. After that, he’d know he could be friendly with Stark’s sister and have her friendly right back. She’d been nice to him, something few people were, and he’d been heartbroken when she disappeared. She’d been his friend. Howard hadn’t needed to make him promise to find her, he vowed that all on his own.

 

“There was an attempt,” he said, sitting in the chair he reserved for visitors, “to recreate the Project. I volunteered. It didn’t really work. I’m not a super soldier, not stronger or faster than anybody else. I just don’t age. I’ve been fit and healthy ever since.”

 

“And no one has figured it out?”

 

“No one’s payed attention long enough to figure it. Peggy knew. But it was never an issue.”

 

She leaned back and got a far away look in her eyes. He used to think of it as her ‘this will get someone in trouble’ look. He’d seen it lead to an exploding pie once, and a tank that had started singing at the enemy every time it fired.

 

He still had the tank in storage somewhere.

 

“You can come see Howard,” she said, and he knew the Avengers would kick his ass if he so much as breathed at that Tower.

 

“And have them drop me off the balcony head first. I don’t think so, thanks for the offer.”

 

“I’ll clear it.” She gave a faint smile. “I think you might be the only one who doesn’t want to eviscerate him right now. He’ll be glad of someone to talk to. Someone who doesn’t want to drop him headfirst.”

 

“What did he do?”

 

“Bucky tried to kill himself. He went to see Howard and then took a swan dive off the balcony, headfirst.”

 

“Mother fucker. He alive?”

 

“He is. Spiderman caught him. But Howard’s not said anything that gets him any points with anyone, even aside from that,” she said and Nick  very forcedly didn’t react. “He’s said things, bad things. About Bucky. About me. About Tony.”

 

“I bet that went down like a ton of lead, huh?”

 

“Ton of lead tied to a rope being pulled from the depths of hell.”

 

“I don’t know what I can do to help.”

 

“I know why you did it to Phil,” she said. Not many people could keep him off-guard, but she was startlingly blunt. He’d never expected it, he still didn’t, and it kept him on his toes. His subordinates could never ever know that she rattled him. “He’s a really good man. What’s that saying? All that’s needed for the triumph of evil…”

 

“…is for good men to do nothing,” he finished.

 

“Phil Coulson is one of the best men I’ve ever known. I can’t say I can get them to forgive you for it. Nor that I can ever really pardon you for it. But I understand it. I read the file, it’s not pretty. I can’t help you with the forgiveness, that’s beyond me. But I can get you an in.”

 

“And what is it you want in return from me? I know you want something, you have that look. What could I possibly have that your boys can’t get you?” he bargained.

 

“Natasha is off tracking down what happened to Howard, figuring out what was done and why and how, all that good stuff. I want the same.” She leaned forward, looking him dead in the eye. “I want to know why they did whatever they did to me. I want the paper trail of what happened to me. All the gaps in the electronic files, I want to fill them. And I’m fairly certain you’re the one who can do that.”

 

He let out a low whistle.

 

“I don’t know if even I can find that,” he admitted. “From what I know already, you were – are – very important to them. This won’t be their last attempt on you, I’m sure you realise. What’s in you that put you on their radar…it’s unique, as far as we’re able to understand.”

 

“How did they even know it was there?” she asked, twirling the pen. “It was dormant. It’s not active in Tony, it wasn’t in Howard. Andrew and Edward were no more super than any other kids.”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“And that’s my point. How did they know? What was the point? How did they turn the gene on? I need those answers, and you have the means to possibly find them.” She reached out and he took her hand. “Nick, I’m not asking that you find it all out in a week. I just want a promise from you that you’ll look into this for me.”

 

“I can do that, put it on the books as a running investigation. But I gotta ask…why not get those men you live with to do this?”

 

“Because they’re sick of all of this. I don’t want to put this on them, not anymore. This is my problem, my need to know. They don’t need to have it on them.”

 

He squeezed her fingers and they sat quietly for a while, both thinking things through.

 

“Did it hurt you as much as it hurt Steve?” she asked eventually, after he’d made a trip down to the vending machine for candy bars.

 

“Nah. No chamber,” he said. “Lotta needles though. How’s motherhood treating you?”

 

“Pretty good.”

 

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through it before passing it over. He looked at the picture of the four children playing on a fluffy rug, an animated something on the screen behind them, JARVIS watching over them.

 

“And he is?”

 

“JARVIS. We built him a body.”

 

“I’ll have to remember that. Cute kids. The blonde one? That one ain’t yours, right?”

 

“No, not mine. That’s Sarah. Steve, Tony, Loki.”

 

“The little girl, she’s the one that gave Hydra so much trouble,” he said with a smile. “Gonna grow up pretty like her momma.”

 

“I think she’s a little more Barnes than Stark.”

 

“Either way, I pity you her teenage years.”

 

“You and me both.” She stood up to leave, actually giving him a hug before heading to the door. “It’s good to see you, Nicky.”

 

She’d just grabbed the handle to leave when he stopped her.

 

“If Tony finds out where you got this, he’ll be pissed. And I don’t recommend letting Cap read it,” he cautioned, holding up a plain manila file. “But this…it belongs to Barnes. Don’t read it if you don’t want to pull that thread. It’s…not for the faint.”

 

“I’ll remember that,” she said, stowing it carefully in her handbag. “Thank you.”

 

He watched her leave and wondered when he’d gone soft.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Tony was in his workshop beating the ever loving shit out of a suit when Skye joined him.

 

“Bad time?” she asked.

 

“No. Just trying to get the chip out. It’s faster, and this is all scrap metal anyway. Too battered to be worth fixing and this is an old model anyway.” He pushed his goggles up onto his head. “And what brings you to my man-cave, Miss Skye?”

 

“I need your help with a…let’s call it a project. A personal project. Very personal.” She settled at his workbench. “I’ve gone about as far as I can go with it. I was hoping maybe you had a new avenue.”

 

“Lay it on me,” he said, shucking his gloves.

 

“I grew up in foster care,” she began, handing him the memory card. “I’ve been trying to find out about my birth parents, where I came from. Years of searching and it all lead to a single document, heavily redacted. A SHIELD document.”

 

He plugged in the card and blew it all up, hovering it in the air so he could flick through them, taking in the minimal information she had managed to gather.

 

“Coulson managed to find a few things. A story. The agency calls it an 0-8-4, an object of unknown origin. I was…I am…they classed me as one. An 0-8-4. They were called to a village in the Hunan province where there was a massacre. They found nothing but a baby girl. Me. Every person I was given to ended up dead. A trail of bodies behind me. So they kept moving me around the system, trying to keep whatever…it is away.”

 

He whistled low, slipping into SHIELD computers and bypassing security, moving too fast for her to follow.

 

“An object of unknown origin, that’s not creepy or robot at all. This is interesting. Report on the massacre you mentioned. There were a couple survivors-”

 

“Really?” she said excitedly.

 

“Were. As in survived long enough to tell agents what happened and then expired. According to them, the village was infiltrated by SHIELD, who were looking for something. They took the village elders with them, and later returned empty handed. The elders were never seen again. When they returned, they were looking for the baby, for you.”

 

“SHIELD killed them all,” she murmured.

 

“Nope. Hydra posing as SHIELD. The real SHIELD went in to find out what the hell was happening. They managed to find you and almost two full teams died keeping you safe. Skye, whatever was hunting you…maybe this is a road better left abandoned.”

 

“I know. But I need to know. Just…something. Anything! A name. That’s it, that’s all I want. I named myself Skye. It would be nice to know who I was supposed to be.”

 

Oh, how he could relate. There was so much he hadn’t known about his father until Annie showed up. So much he hadn’t known about anything until he was grown and thought he was past needing to know.

 

“I can only promise to try.”

 

“That’s all I need,” she said with a huge smile, bounding up to hug him. “Thank you.”

 

“Don’t thank me, not until I find something.”

 

“No, Tony, thank you. For even looking. Thank you so much.”

 

He didn’t say anything about her tears on his shoulder.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

In any other child, they would just have assumed it was her favourite colour.

 

They always kept in mind where Sabrina had come from.

 

It was Sam that noticed first, probably because he was the one that ended up with 90% of her drawings.

 

“Look at these,” he said, spreading a dozen drawings across the table before Phil, Clint and a few of the others. “Sabrina drew them all since she came to us.”

 

“I like them,” Thor declared.

 

“Notice anything odd?”

 

“No? Not really,” Clint said. “Should we?”

 

“This,” he said, motioning to the little blue thing she’d drawn.

 

Now that he’d pointed it out, they noticed it was in every drawing. A small blue shape, a few blue lines on it, always the same shape, always the same size, in every single picture.

 

“What is it?” Phil asked. “She keeps drawing it, so what is it?”

 

“I don’t know. I want to ask her about it, but I wanted to be clear with everyone before I did. It might trigger something in her, something they did that she didn’t like, more than the other things she didn’t like.”

 

“Did they do it in Siberia?” Steve asked.

 

“No,” Sam assured, motioning to one of the pictures. “This one she drew the first night she was here. See? It’s in this one too. Whatever it is, they did it to her before we found her.”

 

“What about Kiddo?” Tony asked. “Has he drawn anything like this?”

 

Sam cleared away Sabrina’s pictures and laid out a few others.

 

“These are all Kiddo’s. Some he’s drawn here, some in the day-care. This is why I’m pretty sure what she’s drawing is a bad thing. Look at the pictures.”

 

“There’s no blue,” Loki said. “Not a speck.”

 

“Exactly. Every single one and there’s no blue at all. Whatever this is…I think we need to talk to her about it.”

 

They all agreed and then Loki and Sam made their way to the balcony, where Sabrina was happily colouring with JARVIS. The android made himself scarce and Loki cuddled her close.

 

“Hello, my little princess,” he cooed, swaying with her as she relaxed into him. “I wonder if we might talk with you.”

 

“What talk?” she asked, toying with the bracelet he wore. It was the tracking one JARVIS had them all wear, but Loki’s had a blue resin snowflake hanging from it. “Pretty.”

 

“Oh, thank you. Do you like it? Darcy made it for me. Perhaps she can make you something for your bracelet.”

 

“A cookie?”

 

“Maybe. We’ll have to ask her what shapes she can make. Now, we were wondering if you could explain some of your pictures for us.”

 

“Pictures with Sam.”

 

“I love drawing pictures with you,” Sam said. “You know, I think it’s one of my favourite things to do. And I like yours a lot. I think they’re much better than mine.”

 

“No. Yours good,” she reassured.

 

“Yeah? You think so?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Sabrina,” Loki said gently, picking up one of the pieces. “I wonder. Could you tell me about this drawing?”

 

“Is Mommy and Daddy Bucky and the others.”

 

“Others?”

 

“Other SB’s.”

 

“Oh, the other ones like you, that were where you were.”

 

“Made them go.”

 

“Yes, they did. So that one is Mommy, and that one is Daddy Bucky. Which one is you?”

 

“That one,” she said, pointing to the one in a pink fuzzy top. All the others were in blue shirts; the scrubs she’d been wearing when they found her. “Others not get clothes.”

 

“I see. How about this one? Who’s this?”

 

“Doctor.”

 

“A bad doctor?” Sam pressed carefully. “I suppose it could be Bruce. He wears a white coat sometimes.”

 

“No. Bad doctor. Hurt,” she mumbled.

 

“Oh, I see. We don’t like those doctors. We’ll stick with Bruce, huh?”

 

“Bruce make better,” she said. “Bruce not smoke.”

 

“Smoke?” Loki asked. “What do you mean, princess?”

 

“This,” she said, pointing to the blue shape she’d drawn in every image. “Makes smoke. Yucky smoke.”

 

“And what is this? Is it…a medicine?”

 

“No. Like a rock, but pretty. Like this,” she said, pointing to his snowflake.

 

“You mean a crystal, sweetheart?” Tony asked as he joined them. He poked at his tablet and held it out to her. “Like these?”

 

“Yes, like those. Doctor throw it and make smoke. Smoke bad.”

 

The three men shared worried looks before focussing on Sabrina once more. She was still calm, still happy to talk. She kept poking at the snowflake, making it twinkle in the light.

 

“That sounds pretty interesting,” Sam said carefully. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. Can you tell me about that?”

 

“Not like,” she mumbled, cuddling closer to Loki.

 

“I would imagine not,” he soothed. “That sounds rather frightening. Rocks aren’t supposed to do that.”

 

“Bad rock.”

 

“Very bad rock. Darling, once the rock became smoke, what happened then? Was there a fire?”

 

“No. Smoke…funny. Do…stuff.”

 

“What kind of stuff?” Tony asked, very casual, leaning back in his seat and poking at his tablet.

 

“Make me…shell. Like nut.”

 

“You mean a walnut?” Sam asked and she nodded. “So…let me see if I understand. The doctor threw the blue rock and it turned into smoke, and then the smoke gave you a shell?”

 

“Yes, like that.”

 

“Did it hurt?” Loki worried.

 

“No. Felt…tickly. And then shell breaked.”

 

“Well of course,” Loki said with a giggle. “We have a little girl, not a Sabrina-shaped statue. Can’t tickled a shell.” He tickled at her with his long fingers and she laughed at him, long peals of it as she wriggled and squirmed.

 

“Looked like walls,” she said when he let her up for air. “All on the floor. Bits of wall.”

 

“So this shell, it looked like pieces of stone,” Tony said and she nodded. “Huh. Never heard of anything like that. Sounds like it’s something pretty interesting to see.”

 

“I’ve seen it,” Loki muttered. “I’ve seen it before.”

 

“What?” Tony pressed.

 

“Sabrina,” Loki redirected. “Did they do this to all the SB children? The stone and the smoke. Did they do it to all of them?”

 

“Yes. And Kiddo. And Mommy.”

 

He pressed a string of kisses to her cheek before he stood and deposited her in his seat.

 

“Thank you, princess,” he said, pressing another kiss to the crown of her head.

 

“Is okay. Where Loki go?”

 

“I have to talk to Thor. I think he and I might have seen this before.”

 

“Okay. Play later,” she said happily, returning to her drawing.

 

Loki didn’t want to consider it, not even for a moment. But what she was describing…no, it couldn’t be. It simply couldn’t.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Thor had never considered that fatherhood would bring him such sheer unadulterated joy.

 

He loved taking care of Gabby, loved holding her, loved her smiles, the little noises she made, the way her eyes lit up when she saw him.

 

He was thankful beyond words for how patient Annie was with him. He knew a woman of Asgard would never have allowed him to take such a large role. He would have been expected to smile down at the child but never hold her, to provide sustenance but not feed her himself, to take a step into the shadows and watch as her mother did the rearing.

 

He wasn’t stupid, he knew Annie was her mother, he knew the bond between a mother and child was sacred and he could not interfere with it. But he also knew he adored being a father.

 

He didn’t even mind diaper duty.

 

Loki found him sitting in the nursery, Gabby in his arms sleeping. He was going to put her in her crib, he was, truly. Just a moment more, perhaps.

 

“Thor, I need your help.”

 

He carefully laid his daughter down and activated the monitor before following his brother out to the main room.

 

“We have a problem, a large problem,” Loki said.

 

“Tell me.”

 

“Agreed,” Tony said. “Spill it.”

 

“What Sabrina is describing, I have heard the story before. The terrigenesis process,” he said, sitting heavily at the bar. “Thor. The blue crystals that turn to smoke, the stone-like shell.”

 

“Nay, it cannot be. You remember the stories, you know the laws. Such an occurrence…”

 

“This is Hydra,” Loki argued. “They care nothing for laws, of this planet or any other. Suppose they found the crystals, that the stories are true and they still remain on Earth. If they had only the stones and not the knowledge…”

 

“They wouldn’t know.” Thor looked at Tony. “This can never leave this room. Nuada, Helblindi, Thrym. None of them can ever know about this. If they were to discover…the consequences would be terrible.”

 

“JARVIS, enact whisper protocol,” Tony said.

 

“Enacted, sir. Shall I alert the others?”

 

“Get them up here. Assemble.”

 

Within moments they had all assembled in the main penthouse and JARVIS had ushered Kiddo and Sarah out onto the balcony to join Sabrina.

 

“You must all understand,” Thor began, glancing at Sabrina. “If the ruling council of Asgard, or any of the realms, found out that this has happened, they would come, and they would not be kind.”

 

“What are we talking about here?” Steve asked. “I thought this was just about Sabrina’s drawings.”

 

“In the drawings Sabrina has drawn blue crystals. She described what they did, how she came across them. It is a story we were told as children. The Kree, a race of blue beings, desired an army of warriors,” Loki began. “A small faction of the Kree spread throughout the realms, taking dozens of beings of every species and attempting to alter them into living weapons. Eventually the experiments were shut down as they were almost a complete failure. They had a few that they managed to alter, but they were of little to no use to the Kree. So the project was abandoned.”

 

“It was believed it never worked here, that humans could not be altered,” Thor said. “But if they are using the crystals then it means there were successes. And those successes had descendants.”

 

“How do we know who is a descendant?” Steve asked. “If it did happen here, and these weapons exist, how do we know who can and can’t be altered now?”

 

“You don’t,” Loki said. “There is no way to know. On other worlds, it is impossible to know who is a potential Kree warrior.”

 

“What do the crystals do?” Bruce asked.

 

“When broken, a terrigen crystal releases a mist that activates that dormant alien material. Once a being has passed through the mist, the process is impossible to undo.”

 

“They did it to all of us,” Annie whispered and Thor looked absolutely devastated. “I’m sorry. I can’t, I can’t talk about this.”

 

They watched as she walked away and wondered what to do. They couldn’t force her to talk, but they needed to know what she knew.

 

It wasn’t really a surprise when Steve was the one to follow her.

 

“I waited for you,” she said quietly, laying on the gym mats. “When they took me, when they…I waited. Every day they came into my room and took me to other rooms and did things. And I was still so sure that you would come for me.”

 

“I tried. We looked for you, I swear.”

 

“I know. I don’t blame you, Steve, truly I don’t. I don’t even blame Howard, not really. I just…it hurts. And having to talk about more and more of what happened just keeps it hurting.”

 

“How about this? Me and you sit and talk just once. You cover everything, from the moment you were taken to the moment Phil and his team found you, and everything you remember from Siberia. We do this just once and JARVIS records everything. Would that help?”

 

He sat quietly and waited while she thought it over.

 

“Just JARVIS. I’ll talk and JARVIS can record it. But just him. I can’t have any of you there. I just…I can’t.”

 

He nodded and crawled closer to pull her into a hug.

 

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered. “I promise. I’ll make it okay.”

 

She held on and wondered if it ever could be.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

The blond man was angry, so angry he couldn’t speak for long moments, and when he could he couldn’t make himself understood.

 

“Calm down,” she soothed, ushering him to a chair. The dark haired man stood impassively, as if he were a child unworthy of his attention.

 

“You can’t do this,” he said eventually. “What you’re talking about, what you’re planning…please. Don’t do this. She won’t understand, none of them will. And taking the choice from her? From them? You can’t take that, not that.”

 

“No decision has been made yet,” she promised. “We’re simply discussing the different paths we might take.”

 

“And that is the wrong one. Talk to her, to them,” he argued. “Explain things. It’ll go better if you just talk first.”

 

She looked considering and then glanced at the other man. It was in that glance that he knew she wouldn’t listen, that they would do this regardless of what he said.

 

“We will think upon the paths for a little longer,” she said, crossing to her desk and flicking through some papers. “Now. What did you come to me for?”

 

“I have a shift. I need to go back.”

 

“Of course,” the dark haired man said. “I’ll take you. When is it?”

 

“Tomorrow morning, but it’s early, so I should go back tonight.”

 

He nodded. “Go get your things, I’ll wait for you in the courtyard.”

 

The blond nodded and strode from the room, pausing just close enough to hear what was said.

 

“You know my opinion here,” he said. “This is a choice we all get to make, and that includes them. They don’t even know we exist, don’t even understand what’s happened, why we’re interested in them.”

 

“And you know mine. They belong here with us. You should-”

 

“I will give them the choice. You left this to me for all the others, you’ll leave it to me for these as well,” he interrupted.

 

The blond knew how this would end, he’d seen it before, and he was fairly confident he would be able to get to them before the other man. He hurried off to grab his things and then met him in the courtyard for the trip home.

 

Except his shift wasn’t until the afternoon, so he set off for the Tower, and prayed they’d listen.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

He never even got through the door.

 

He learned later that Skye had taken off with a woman called Raina, and ended up in a Temple with a Diviner.

 

He’d wait until they’d had a chance to breathe, and then he’d try again and hope they didn’t shoot him on sight.

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, what did you think? Had to start things off with a bang. Comment below and let me know what you want to see in future chapters.


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